Changes
by Eugenee
Summary: Lucy begins to experiences some changes within herself that have her feeling worn out and confused but in time she'll have to go through the biggest change of all... but how bad could it be when she has the support of her friends and of course Natsu.
1. Nausea

**I had some really amazing reviews for my previous stories and am really appreciative that people took the time to say such nice things, it's just the boost of motivation a person needs to throw out some more stuff.**

**So this is something of a multi-chapter story, I'm not used to writing long stories so hopefully it won't be too disjointed or I won't slip up any where, either way I hope you enjoy.**

Lucy was beginning to wonder whether she should have ducked out of this mission when her stomach rolled uncomfortably again, she was nowhere near as bad as Natsu who was currently sprawled across his seat on the train groaning and clutching at his belly, an unattractive shade of green and a sheen of sweat coating his face.

No she wasn't as bad as him but it wasn't comfortable.

She sighed, leaning back against her seat and watching the world speed by through the window wishing it could be enough to distract her from the queasiness.

From the moment she'd woken up this morning she'd felt an empty feeling in her stomach, at first she thought she was just hungry so after a slice of toast layered with her favourite strawberry jam she was left confused when the feeling of queasiness increased. Fortunately it had only remained a feeling and nothing had come up yet, despite the burning feeling in her throat reminding her that the acid in her stomach was churning.

She ran a hand across her brow, the clammy feeling beginning to settle in again as a fresh wave of nausea assaulted her, she took a few deep breaths, desperately hoping it didn't come out.

'Lucy you look a bit pale are you ok?' The blonde opened her eyes and refocused on Erza who was leaning across the aisle, concern glittering in her sienna eyes. Lucy smiled, hoping her discomfort wasn't too obvious, it was enough they had to worry about Natsu's travel sickness, she didn't want them to be concerned over her as well.

'It's nothing much, a little queasy but I think I just haven't eaten much today, I'm sure I'll feel better after some lunch.'

'If you're sure but if you feel worse do let me know.'

'I will.'

Lucy closed her eyes again and rested back, she rubbed a hand over her belly in some hope that it would ease the rumbling.

'Lucy... Lucy...' Lucy jolted awake, feeling somewhat bewildered. She ran a hand across her eyes and looked up at Erza who was gently shaking her awake.

'Sorry I fell asleep.' Lucy murmured. She fumbled around, disorientated and groggy, collecting her little backpack. All the while Erza looked on concerned, she ordered Gary to pick up the groaning dragon slayer, the ice maker deciding it wasn't worth pissing of Erza pulled Natsu off his seat by his collar with little complaint and proceeded to drag him down the train unceremoniously. Lucy could just about make out weak insults from Natsu who had no choice but to allow himself to get dragged off.

She hadn't planned on falling asleep, in fact she was surprised she had, normally not the type to fall asleep in public places, but it seemed it's what she needed the nausea had passed and she felt somewhat normal again.

Optimism rising she followed Erza off the train where she was greeted by an arguing duo, Natsu, seemingly recovered, and Gray butted heads, that was until Erza's unsettling aura settled over them, they quickly pulled apart and the Happy double act began.

'Let's head to the client and then we'll grab lunch.' Erza suggested and naturally everyone agreed.

At the mention of food though the heavy feeling of nausea settled over Lucy again, her relief short lived, only this time it was accompanied by a dull ache behind her eyes, the start of a headache. It looked as if this was the beginning of an illness which she really didn't need right now what with rent due so soon.

She followed the others reluctantly, feeling less perky, the occasional concerned glance from her teammates told her that they had noticed her odd behaviour.

'Lucy did you want to go grab something to eat while we meet the client,' Erza suggested. 'Natsu will go with you.'

'I can wait, we should all eat together.' But Natsu stepped forward, a strange look in his eyes, he grabbed hold of her hand and waved Erza and Gray off as he started dragging her in a random direction. 'Natsu...?'

'Come on I know a place around here that has good food.' Natsu threw over his shoulder. Lucy allowed herself get pulled through the town, his hand still wrapped tightly around hers, she looked at the interlocked hands and smiled softly, such a reliable and strong hand.

The place that Natsu had in mind was quaint, tucked away in a quiet corner of town, the outside wasn't very appealing but the inside was surprisingly warm and welcoming, a host smiled warmly at the couple, showing them to a booth at the back of the shop and passed them a menu each. Natsu seemed to glance over the sheet before dropping it to the table with little interest, he obviously knew what he wanted. Lucy on the other hand look over it slowly, it all sounded delicious, it really did, but the rolling was back in full swing and the idea of food didn't sit well with her at all.

She settled for a salad hoping it was light enough to settle the acid churning in her stomach.

'You not feeling well?' Lucy looked up at Natsu who was looking at her with open concern, his nose twitched as if he was sniffing before his brow furrowed in confusion.

'It's nothing serious really, my stomach's a little unsettled, I'm sure it's just a passing thing.'

'Hmm.' He hummed noncommittally. 'You should sit this mission out just in case, happy could keep you company.' He suggested.

Lucy sighed irritably, she knew if she brought it up they'd over react.

'It's just some nausea.' She grumbled. 'Plus I need rent money for this week, If I sit out then I'll have to go on another mission.'

'Don't be silly, you still get a share, after all you can't help getting ill.' Natsu argued.

'That's not really fair is it?'

'You know you wouldn't have to pay rent if you just moved in with me.' Natsu sniffed. Lucy closed her eyes and took a subtle deep breath while Natsu glanced away.

'We've talked about this Natsu it's too soon, we haven't even told the others about us yet.'

'It's been six months when are we going to tell the others? I understand why we've kept it a secret but don't you think we've hidden it long enough.'

'I suppose we have,' Lucy stopped talking when the server came back with their food, she smiled and thanked them, by the time she turned back Natsu was already digging in. She started again. 'I suppose we have dragged it on a bit but now that we've kept it hidden so long how do we just... announce it?' A secret relationship with someone she was already known to be close with made it very easy to keep it a secret even with Mira breathing down her shoulder about how cute her and Natsu would be as a couple.

She had to make it clear that she wanted to keep her relationship with Natsu a secret, not because she was embarrassed or ashamed, nothing of the sort, she was proud to have a supportive and able man like Natsu as her significant other, the reason she had requested that they keep it low was because she didn't want all the attention. And they would get a lot of attention, after all the times they'd tried to set them up, and all the teasing, not to mention the betting pools... Lucy and Natsu in a relationship would be a big deal.

She just wanted to enjoy being with him, get used to the idea of being his girlfriend before the locusts descended upon them.

'If it's announcing it to the guild leave it to me.' Natsu grinned. Lucy laughed, imagining just how he'd break the news.

'Of course.' Lucy looked down at her salad and grimaced, it was a lovely looking Caesar salad and she was sure it tasted lovely but her stomach was flipping and twisting and the burn of acid was thick in her throat.

'Not hungry?' Natsu asked.

'I'm fine.' She reassured. She poked her fork into the leafy greens and forced it down, much to her relief it went down easy, she sighed in relief. She took another bite and smiled at Natsu, he had a sceptical look in his eye but didn't say anything more about it.

'Are you wearing a new smelly?' Smelly was his term for perfume, she shook her head.

'No, I stopped wearing perfume because it irritated your nose, remember?' She took another bite, chewed and swallowed. 'Why?'

'You smell different... I kind of like it.' He muttered between mouthfuls.

'Oh... uh... thanks, I guess.' Maybe it was her shampoo he was smelling, it was a new brand she was trying out.

Six months ago she had accidently let slip her feeling for Natsu, she'd been mortified and terrified, especially when he hadn't responded at all, he'd frozen and her first reaction was to flee. She'd avoided him, making excuses left, right and centre, she'd even snuck out on a mission without him when she was tight on money, she wouldn't try that again, he'd been furious at her for it. When he'd finally cornered her in her room, leaving her no room for escape he'd done the unexpected... he'd kissed her.

Soon followed a long winded and terrible confession but coming from Natsu her heart melted and they reconciled except now they were more.

Things had been natural, nothing had really changed except that they were far more intimate, sneaking kisses, and under the table touches, lingering glances and secretive smiles and when alone... well they were close, very close, intimate touches and heated kisses had turned into more, much more.

Even something as simple as enjoying a meal alone with him, they didn't have to be chatting away, being with him was just easy. She smiled warmly at him before returning to her food.

Lucy set down her fork and sat back, the churning had subsided, the food seemingly doing the trick, only now she felt tired despite her long nap on the train ride here.

'I feel better,' Lucy announced. 'It looks as if I was just hungry.' She laughed. 'We should meet up with the others, I'm sure they're done with the client by now.'

Paying for the meal they walked out into the street, now that nausea had gone she felt chipper, a cheerful smile playing on her lips and that smile only widened when Natsu took her hand in his, interlocked their fingers intimately. Their joined hands swung between them as they casually strolled towards the given address of the client.

It was thanks to Natsu's sensitive nose that they knew when Erza, Gray and Happy were nearby, they reluctantly let each other's hands go, Natsu tucking his hand in his pockets and Lucy linking her hands together behind her back. They were quite practiced by now at acting natural.

'It's good to see some colour on your face Lucy.' Erza greeted when they reached each other.

'Hmm, just suffering from an empty belly it seemed.'

Erza nodded seemingly relieved, Gray came forwards and put a hand on her shoulder, a grin on his face.

'See I told you were worrying over nothing, our Lucy is stronger than that.'

'Yes well... I think we should get on with the request, it's nothing too troublesome.' Erza turned and began to walk in the direction that led out of town, without question everyone followed. Lucy was relieved to hear the mission would be easy, though the nausea had abated for now, she had a nagging feeling in the pit of stomach that told her it wasn't gone for good. She briefly wandered if she should visit a doctor when they got back to Magnolia but quickly decided it wasn't necessary, she was sure it was nothing to really worry about.

Maybe her time of the month was coming up, she mentally calculated the days, yeah that should be soon. Feeling appeased she pushed it all to the back of her mind and focused on the mission ahead.

'Erza what exactly was the request?' Lucy asked, the request sheet had been suspiciously bare but when Erza waved offhandedly over her shoulder Lucy's hackles rose.

'Destroy a nest of man devouring vipers just outside of town.'

'Is that it? I was expecting something a little more exciting.' Natsu shrugged dejectedly, completely unfazed, as usual.

'I know but at least the reward is high.' Gray agreed, slinging his arms behind his head.

Lucy on the other hand skidded to a halt and that feeling of queasiness began to rise again, great, only Erza would consider this mission little trouble but then how bad could one nest be while she was surrounded by some of the guilds strongest members?

They were monsters themselves after all.

She probably should have stayed in bed.


	2. Tired

**After some really motivating reviews which I really _really _appreciate, especially after some really long days at work, I finished off this chapter and already have the next one in the works. Despite nothing much really happening yet I really glad that people are interested in this and like it.**

**Thank you and enjoy. **

The sun was beginning to set and it was at this time that Lucy was finally making her way home after a particularly long and tiring day at the guild.

After team Natsu's return from their last mission Natsu had wasted no time jumping onto the closest table and announcing to the entire guild that Lucy was his. She hadn't been prepared so the moment the words left his mouth and she was surrounded by all the girls of the guild, she felt somewhat faint. They had dragged her over to the bar, placed her on a bar stool and the questioning had started.

They'd all been surprised to hear they'd been together for six months, none of them hardly believing it but the questions just wouldn't stop; who confessed first? Had they kissed? Did they go on dates? Why had they not told anyone? How had they kept it a secret for so long? Have they done 'that'? It was endless but she'd answered honestly and diligently thinking she may as well get this over and done with. And whatever she didn't answer her flushed face pretty much gave her away.

But having to put up with all this attention while she felt sick exhausted her more than usual.

Natsu had had to put up with the male side but it hadn't taken long for a fight to break out and now the majority of them including Natsu were lying passed out on the guild floor which was why she walking home alone.

She yawned for what seemed like the umpteenth time that evening her hand barely making it in time to cover her widening mouth. She was fairly certain that she would fall asleep the moment she got home.

A burst of noise broke out a little further on, a scream of alarm and angry shouts, on instinct Lucy grabbed her keys and darted towards the commotion. Rounding the corner she came across distasteful scene. A group of men surrounded an elderly shop vendor who would have been leaving her shop for the night, she was on the floor holding her arm to her chest indicating she'd been hurt.

There were a lot of things Lucy couldn't stand but assaulted the elderly was completely unacceptable.

"Hey!" Lucy ran forward, the group of four men looked up slightly startled by the intrusion but quickly began laughing when they realized it was only one girl. She'd soon wipe the smile off their faces. "Leave her alone!"

"Oh, and what you gonna do about it, little girl?" One man sneered, stepping closer. Lucy remained unruffled, she didn't need to look at her keys to know which one she was picking.

"Don't underestimate me." She growled before raising the key up in front of her and summoning Virgo. She frowned when she felt a slight resistance, struggling to pull the magic energy needed to summon the spirit through up. While Virgo appeared in a shower of light, Lucy's vision blurred ever so slightly making her stumble.

She quickly straightened herself up and shook her head, blinking rapidly to regain her vision.

"Princess?" There was an edge of concern to the spirit's questioning voice.

"I'm fine but those men are harassing that old woman, punish them."

"Of course Princess." Instantly the spirit disappeared beneath the ground tunneling under the group who were looking around confused, they all scattered about watching the floor in mild alarm, unsure where she'd pop up.

"She's a mage." One of them yelled just before Virgo caved the floor underneath one man dragging him under. Lucy grabbed her whip ready to join in but a wave of dizziness made her stumble again, the feeling was akin to when she used too much magic but she'd only summoned Virgo which was never a problem, hell she was capable of summoning three, at a stretch, so why was now such a struggle?

She'd summoned Scorpio and Taurus earlier during the mission but enough time had passed for her magic to have replenished so why was she feeling faint?

She readied her whip when she spotted one of the men coming her way, she pulled her arm back and flicked her wrist bringing the whip forward slashing at the man but something wasn't right, her Fleuve d'etoile didn't extend far enough and it was weak, the man had flinched but once he realized her trouble, he smirked and renewed his advance.

This wasn't good, Virgo was occupied and Lucy suspected summoning another spirit wouldn't work out for the best, her vision was growing hazy and she felt so very sick.

"Not so tough now, eh little missy." The oaf chuckled and Lucy shuddered.

"Princess!" Virgo shouted from her side, she had two men tied up but the other was proving to be difficult and Virgo was flagging, she was summoned with Lucy's magic which meant her time was running out.

Taking a tentative step back she stumbled falling to the floor with a sharp cry of alarm, her stomach heaved from the impact, a hand smacked over her mouth, feeling the horrid burn in her throat.

The brute lifted a fist, ready to strike her and as defenseless as she was she could do nothing but try and hold the contents of her stomach in and cower.

A plume of fire erupted up between them taking them both by surprise, Lucy squealed and reeled back whilst the man who had got caught in the inferno yelled in pain, he jumped back and patted his shirt down looking at the fire with confusion, alarm and bewilderment.

"I really hope you weren't about to hit my partner," A familiar voice growled from behind her, instantly she relaxed, his presence immediately putting her at ease, "cause if you were I'd really have to burn you to a crisp." A warm hand settled on her shoulder and she reached up to clutch it, expressing her gratitude with a simple squeeze. The back of her other hand was still firmly pressed over her mouth, the waves of nausea still rolling over her.

"N-No I wasn't, the young miss fell I-I-I was gonna help her up." He held up his hands in defense and took a couple of steps back.

"Eh… you really think I'm gonna believe that crap." Natsu lunged forwards taking the man up by the collar and with a fist alight with flames he punched the blubbering thief in the face knocking him out cold.

Lucy tore her eyes away from him to look down at her key pouch were Virgo's key flashed gold signaling her return to the spirit world, Lucy now too weak to keep her gate open. Fortunately she had left the other men tied up so they no longer had to worry about them but by the looks of them and the way they gawked at Natsu they wouldn't retaliate unless they wanted to end up like their comrade.

"Lucy you ok?" She looked back up at Natsu and slowly, unsure, she nodded her head, physically she was exhausted and mentally drained, but she was unharmed.

"You turned up just on time." She smiled but she knew it was weak and his brow drew together in concern, he dropped to his haunches in front of her, and cupped her face in the palm of his hands.

"Lucy you look almost green… and you're burning up!"

"I- I… uh…" She was interrupted by a dry wretch, acting fast she threw herself to the side and heaved up the contents of her stomach, the acidic burn traveled up her throat making her wretch until finally there was nothing left to bring up.

"I don't think I'm feeling very well." She muttered, not caring how obvious her comment was, before everything went dark.

She woke up sometime later, the familiar softness of her bed beneath her body and the warmth of her duvet over her, the feel of the material against her skin telling her she was reduced to her underwear.

Her mouth was dry and a foul stale taste lingered, she felt as if she hadn't brushed her teeth in sometime but more than anything else she wanted some water. She shifted in her bed to get up until she spotted the glass of water on the bedside table, she snatched it up and swallowed it all down swiftly. She set the glass down and reached for the bedside lamp, the room became bathed in light and on the sofa she spotted a snoozing slayer.

She smiled softly, admiring his features while he slept, one of her past times was to watch him sleep since it was one of the only times he was peaceful, and she was always surprised to be reminded that Natsu was quite the catch, and he was all hers.

Usually he was a light sleeper so she was surprised the light hadn't woke him up but she imagined he'd spent most of the night worrying over her, sometimes it overwhelmed her by how much she loved him, wandering how it had taken her so long to fall in love with him. But then back then she'd been young and naive but now at twenty three she'd seen him with a new light and six months ago she realized something she should have known all along, he was her partner in all ways.

She stretched her body out and surprisingly she felt… fine. The sickness had abated, whether it was temporary or not she wasn't sure but for now she felt great… well except for the horrid after taste in her mouth.

Tentatively she stood up when she didn't feel unsteady she nodded her head in success and walked into the bathroom grabbing her dressing gown along the way. She picked up her toothbrush, briefly smiling when she spotted Natsu's in the cup next to hers, it always gave her a warm feeling to see it there, she wandered if Natsu ever got the same feeling when he was at home and spotted her spare toothbrush in his holder next to his.

She scrubbed her teeth furiously, reaching every corner of her mouth until she was satisfied, she followed up with some mouthwash and with a satisfied sigh she walked out of room.

Natsu was still asleep on the sofa, and she wasn't all that tired anymore so instead of heading to bed she sat at her desk wandering if she could get her creative juices flowing and write something but instead her stomach grumbled. Well her stomach was empty now so it wasn't all that surprising that she was hungry.

In the kitchen she riffled though her fridge and her cupboards until she found her not so secret stash of chocolate bars, she shrugged and tore her way in before braking a piece of and throwing it into her mouth.

"Lucy?" Natsu's voice rang out, an edge of panic in his voice. She poked her head out of the kitchen and made her presence known; he turned around and sighed in relief. "What are you doing out of bed?" He asked.

"Eating." She said throwing another chunk of chocolate in her mouth.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, edging closer.

"Surprisingly ok." She walked in and threw herself on the sofa where Natsu had been sitting.

"Are you sure, you threw up and you looked so pale." He knelt down in front of her, resting his arms on her folded legs.

"Pretty sure, maybe I ate something funny and I needed to get it out of me system although…" She stopped eating and put the chocolate down to the side, she pushed Natsu aside and got up, looking around for her keys. She spotted them on her dresser, darting for them she grabbed hold of Loke's key and held it out.

"Loke!" She summoned the spirit but nothing happened at least not in front of them but on the inside Lucy felt the familiar strain of magic use but her resources were exhausted before the summon could be completed. She dropped her arm to her side, her mind reeling, what was wrong with her magic?

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Lucy muttered. She stumbled over to the sofa feeling exhausted again and dropped down. That was when Loke appeared in the middle of the room looking around in alarm.

"Is something wrong… you tried to summon me." He looked down at his master, his usually cool exterior was flapped, his brow pulled together in worry.

"Something is wrong… something's wrong with me."

"What 's going on?" Natsu was getting impatient and frustrated, she knew he hated to feel confused but she had no idea what was happening? She couldn't summon Loke, it was as if she wasn't strong enough.

"I … I couldn't summon you…" Lucy mumbled. "There's something wrong with my magic." Lucy was beginning to grow quite panicked, her hands were shaking and she was suddenly finding it hard to breath, her eyes began to sting with the threat of tears as she desperately gasped for air.

Natsu rushed forwards and grasped Lucy by the shoulders, he shook her gently, his worried eyes burning into hers.

"Calm down, Lucy! Calm down, panicking won't get you anywhere you need to take deep breaths and calm down, focus on me, ok, I'm with you no matter what." That's right she had Natsu, he would protect her, he would keep her safe, he was her anchor, her home. Slowly she took several deep calming breaths as she clung on to Natsu like he was her lifeline.

"Sorry." Natsu smiled softly down at her before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into his warmth, her panic eased away and she took deep breath while inhaling his intoxicating scent.

"So you guys seem … close." Loke pointed out. Natsu threw him a look.

"Well yeah." As if it was obvious.

"You guys… are together?" Natsu nodded. "I had no idea." He breathed in awe. "Wow, congrats I guess."

"Thanks."

'So have you guys done 'that' yet?' He asked casually, a teasing grin lighting up his face. Lucy buried her face further into Natsu neck with a groan, her face flaming red from embarrassment, why did everyone want to know that?

"Oh yeah." Natsu chuckled; she could just imagine the wolfish grin on his face. She leapt back and smacked him on the arm. Natsu frowned at her while rubbing his abused apendage.

"Don't go telling people about our personal life." She yelped.

"He asked." He defended.

"Then you say, it's none of your business." She argued. Natsu turned to face Loke and shrugged.

"It's none of your business."

"Too late!" Both Loke and Lucy shouted in unison. "Whatever there's something more important I need to know." She turned her attention back to Loke. "Is it possible for someone to lose their magic power?"

Both Natsu and Loke turned to gawk at Lucy, she had her lower lips between her teeth as she waited anxiously for the answer. Loke coughed awkwardly before answering.

"I've not heard of it happening before." He said. "But that's not to say it not possible… if you don't mind me asking what's going on, you tried to summon me and failed I came with my own power, and Virgo said you couldn't keep her gate open for very long."

"I don't know, I was kind of hoping you'd know something but trying to summon you completely drained my power, I feel weak and tired." She looked down at her hands. "What if I'm losing my power, what will I do?"

"That can't be… you wouldn't lose your power just like, maybe it's your illness?" Natsu reasoned. "Whenever I've got ill in the past it's weakened my power."

"To the point you can't even use it?" Lucy quipped.

"Well no but our magic types are different, since you're a holder type you have to use more magic power to channel through the object, you're opening gates to another world, right, must use a lot of power for something like that?" Lucy stared at her partner in amazement, it was true, it did take more power to you use magic like that, she was just surprised Natsu knew that.

"Natsu's actually making sense, if you are ill then your body is currently trying to repair itself, it can be mentally and physically exhausting, I suggest you go easy on the magic over the next few days to give yourself time to recover then try summoning me again, if it fails go see Porlyusica." Loke pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "In the meantime I'll talk to Crux for you, see if he knows anything. Take care of her Natsu." And with that the lion spirit vanished.

"Tch, as if he had to tell me that, I'd look after you without him saying so." His eyes settled back on Lucy. "And no magic for you until you're better."

"How am I supposed to go on mission without my magic?"

"Oh no, no missions for you either." She groaned and fell back against the sofa, Natsu rested his chin on her knees.

"I suppose I could take a few days off but I'll need to start saving up for next month's rent soon."

"And like I said you wouldn't have to pay rent if you were living with me." He pouted. She sighed, not feeling up for this discussion again.

"And I told it's too soon." As much as she liked seeing their toothbrushes together, it was rushing headlong into something quite big. "It's not to say it won't happen in the future." She reassured, she had no reason not to live with him, not having to pay rent would be great and always coming home with Natsu, going fishing with him and Happy in the evening, neither of them having to go home because they'd already both be home… but it was too soon for them and their budding relationship.

"But we've been together for ages." He argued, not seeing her point of view.

"But we've only been together '_together' _for a short amount of time in comparison."

"It's not like we're going to break up or anything so I don't see the problem."

"Of course we're not going to it's just…" She sighed. "We're new to this, give us time to adjust, to learn each other completely."

"I think I know you pretty well outside and _in_." He grinned lewdly, the innuendo not missed by her; on cue she blushed brightly and shook her head.

"Good sex doesn't equal good relationship."

"We already have a great relationship and good – no – great sex doesn't hurt." Intimacy with Natsu was something spectacular, the first time for them had been shy and awkward, she'd never felt so embarrassed, it had been a big step in a new direction but once they got into it everything just sort of fell into place and their inexperience and awkwardness melted away.

"Be that as it may, I'm too tired to argue about this right now so could we please just go to bed."

Natsu looked as if he hadn't finished but he quickly shut his mouth and sighed, he stood up and before Lucy could follow suit he lent over her and effortlessly picked her up, she didn't argue, she just wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his neck.

Gently he placed her on the bed and began removing his scarf and clothing so that he was left only in his boxers before following her down and bringing the quilt over them both. He pulled her to him, wrapping his strong arms around her delicate frame. With a contented sigh she snuggled into his side and allowed herself to relax in his warmth.

"Luce?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry I keep bringing it up but I just really like the idea of us living together." She peeked an eye open to see his pink tinted cheeks, she smiled and wrapped her arms across his torso.

"I know and I like the idea too but just give it some more time ok?" He nodded his head slowly.

"Are you sure you haven't changed your spray or something."

"I'm sure why?"

"Cause you smell different, I like it cause it kind of smells like you and me."

"Maybe we spent so much time together that I'm just beginning to smell like you." She closed her eyes again, sleep tugging at her consciousness. "It happens, I think."

"Yeah I guess so." Natsu fell silent and she relished in the sound of his steady heartbeat beating against her ear and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, all such simple things but they filled her with such a contentedness that made her happy.

"Love you Natsu." She whispered, on the verge of sleep, she felt his chuckle rather then heard it, his chest rumbling beneath her head.

"Love you more."

She smiled into his chest and allowed sleep to claim her, hoping that over the next few days she'd feel better.


	3. Hunger

**So... this chapter does contain mature content as Lucy experiences two types of hunger. Here we go... enjoy!**

Lucy hummed tunelessly as her and Natsu strolled through the market that lined the streets of Magnolia. A colourful array of stands erected to sell an assortment of wares from all over Fiore. Natsu occasionally walked her over to a variety of jewellery tents, asking her if there was anything in particular she liked the look of, admittedly it was all very beautiful and though she liked to wear the occasional bangle or earrings she wasn't much of a jewellery person, especially since joining Fairy Tail and the ridiculous collateral damage, loosing clothes was enough she didn't need to worry about precious jewellery as well.

She kind of suspected he was trying to distract her from her current issues, her mild sickness and inability to use magic, thinking about it always brought forwards a depressed sigh but Natsu was always quick to come up with some kind of distraction that gave her no choice but to laugh along.

Today seem to be a shopping distraction but if he really wanted to distract her he should have taken her clothes shopping but Lucy was well aware that Natsu had learnt his lesson about shopping with girls, it had taken him one trip to swear him off shopping with Lucy.

"Nothing you like?" Natsu was beginning to sound exasperated which only made her frown, why was he suddenly so interested in what jewellery she liked?

"Well there are lots of things I like but Natsu I don't really wear that much jewellery to warrant buying any."

He just grunted in answer and pulled her away from the stand, he looked mildly annoyed but for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

She looked around at the other stalls paying particular attention to the food stands, a myriad of different and delicious scents and aromas trailed across the strip and shamelessly her mouth was watering for a taste, despite her nausea, which had fallen into a background feeling in the pit of her stomach, her appetite had returned.

She tugged on Natsu hand, grabbing his attention, he looked over and she pointed over to a burger stand and instantly his face lightened up and he dragged them over to the stall.

Natsu as per usual ordered a good portion of what was on the menu while she tapped her chin in thought as she looked over the choices.

"I'll have... the double layered burger with cheese and lots of onion and a portion of fries." Lucy said with a resolute nod of her head.

She looked over at the condiments grabbing the ketchup and mustard, she watched Natsu pick up a bottle of Tabasco sauce and pour it all over his fries and steak burger. It smelt strong but not altogether unpleasant so when he dropped the bottle down she swiftly nabbed it up and did the same with her food. With a satisfied smile she threw a fry in to her mouth.

It was spicy, very spicy but it left an oddly satisfying tingle and after taste that was surprising, she'd never really given spicy food a lot of thought, too used to Natsu's insane level of heat, but this was actually an addictive taste.

"I thought you didn't like spicy stuff." Natsu pointed out looking over her food with interest.

"I guess I do now," she muttered through a mouthful of food, "but you do hear of people's tastes changing as they grow older."

"If you say so." Natsu shrugged quickly losing interest.

Lucy went back to her food, heartily eating the entire lot before sitting back and sighing happily while Natsu continued to inhale his food.

From the corner of her eye she watched him eat, she loved how much he enjoyed his food, the look of pure joy and innocent happiness in his expressive eyes never failed to bring a smile of her own forward. There were other looks he had that she loved just as much, like his cocky grin, his jubilant smile, the little blush he'd get when something pleased him greatly... her particular favourite was during their intimate moments, a fiery look of possession and heat, he'd admire her body like it was a fine meal laid out especially for him, and then there was that look of rapture just as he climaxed that intensified her own release.

Those last faces were ones only she knew.

Unintentionally her eyes trailed down to his open front vest that he favoured in hotter season, his chest on display for everyone to see and for her to gawk at. How many times had she trailed her fingers down those muscles, feeling the quiver beneath her fingertips and the shaky release of breath? So many times and right now she wanted to, she wanted to touch him and kiss him, she wanted to see those expressions she loved so much and she wanted... him.

She rarely ever initiated those encounters, Natsu, since discovering the joys of sex, was usually the one to attack her but right now she wanted to drag him home and have her way with him and that embarrassed her but she knew he wouldn't turn her down.

She shifted closer to the dragon slayer who paused his eating to look down at Lucy who was pressed against his arm, she bit her lower lip and looked up him coquettishly hoping he would get the hint.

It been over a week since they'd last been together like that and until now Lucy hadn't questioned it, he usually made a move every couple of days and although she complained she could never say no to him but over the week he'd made no attempts... should she be worried? The curses of it being her first relationship was that she had no idea what was normal or how things should be so was it normal for Natsu to lose interest so early on or was she just being paranoid, after all it had only been a week... maybe he was just tired or something.

"You ok Lucy?"

"Hmm, I was wandering if you wanted to head home?" She asked, smiling coyly while she fiddled with hem of his shirt.

"But we haven't been out long." He cocked his head to side and quirked an eyebrow. He was totally not getting it.

"I know that but I kind of want to be alone with you right now..." The blank look on his face told her he still wasn't getting it. She sighed and just resisted rolling her eyes, instead she pressed a hand against his bare chest and softly ran her fingers down until she reached his waistband. The shudder and intake of breath told her he'd been affected and when she looked up to meet his eyes she was overjoyed to see that heated look. Understanding seemed to dawn and a lovely shade of red seem to coat his cheeks.

"Right now... but it's the middle of the day."

"Is that a problem?" He quickly shook his. "Good cause right now I really want to eat you up." She whispered seductively. She heard Natsu gasp before suddenly she was being pulled up by the arm and dragged through the streets, all the while giggling with excitement and from the look of sheer determination on his face.

He looked like a man on a mission.

The moment the door of her apartment was closed behind them, Natsu had her pressed against the door and was ravaging her mouth with desperate kisses. She was equally as desperate, clinging onto him like he was her anchor.

She moved her hands up and under his vest, pushing the material over his shoulders, he let go of her briefly to shrug it off before replacing his hot hands back on her body, dragging her as close to him as possible.

Her hands pulled at his hair while his worked on the buttons of her blouse, a curse of frustration rumbled against her lips before she heard the tell tale sound of popping buttons as he ripped the rest of the way open.

She whimpered when she felt his hands cup her breasts, even through the material of her bra she could feel his overwhelming heat, she wasn't sure if it was unintentional or not but he always got so hot during moments like these and it felt so good.

His lips trailed down the column of her neck, sucking gently on all her sweet spots before licking over them, she knew when he'd left marks by the way he tenderly kissed over them before moving on.

As much as she loved the teasing foreplay she felt oddly desperate, liquid arousal drenching her opening, she knew right now she needed no preparation, her body would accept his gladly and easily.

She pushed at his chest roughly and in his surprise he stumbled back falling to the floor, she didn't give him a moment before she was kneeling between his parted legs and fiddling with the clasp of his belt buckled and lowering his zipper.

"Lucy!" She could hear the confusion in his breathless voice but she could also hear the need mingled with it so the moment she had him freed she didn't hesitate in wrapping her eager lips around the head of his erection. She sucked him further in, using her tongue to trail up and down the underside of his shaft. "Shit Luce..." She heard the thump of his head hitting the floor, his arms up and covering his face while he cried out in jubilation.

She released him with a small pop and while she thoroughly worshipped his member with her restless she reached between her legs and tugged at her soaked panties until she was kicking them off. She gave herself a swift stroke surprised by how moist she actually was, was she really that horny?

She reached into his pocket, knowing he always kept a condom in there ready, though he thought she didn't know, she tore it open with her teeth and rolled the rubber down his shaft, she squeezed him lightly and kissed the rubber tip with great affection before crawling up his body and positioning herself above him.

She met his eyes and smiled softly at the expression, he looked so vulnerable as she had her way with him, his eyes heavy lidded, his lips parted, giving her a little glimpse of his pointed canines she loved so much, his face was flushed red and the bangs he normally had flicked back were falling over his brow. Gods he was gorgeous, and only she had the power to make him this weak, to make him submit to her desires.

"Love you." She murmured, stroking a finger down the side of his face, he captured her hand and brought it to his lips before kissing it softly, a tender smile breaking through his haze of lust.

"Love you more."

She didn't give him a moment to catch his breath before impaling herself on his shaft, his head dropped back to the floor and a strangled cry escaped through his gritted teeth. Her own head was thrown back in euphoria, she loved how he filled and stretched her completely, kissing her womb with the tip of his erection.

Natsu's hands shot out to grip her hips as she rolled them forward then back, bringing him in as deep as he could go, her back arched and she gripped his solid thighs as she rolled again, a breathy sigh of pleasure escaping her parted lips.

She rolled her hips in a circular motion, a shudder rippling through them both before she finally raised herself up on to her knees, the head of erection almost slipping out of her before she dropped back down, engulfing him.

"...Lucy..." Natsu whimpered, his fingers were digging in almost painfully but she didn't mind it. She repeated the motion again, this time he helped lift her and he slammed her down causing the both of them to cry out in exuberance from the swiftness of the motion.

She slowly began to build up a rhythm with Natsu's guidance, his own hips angled up and met her thrust for thrust, hitting that particular sweet spot deep inside that had her head falling back and whimpered cries to pour out.

She moved her hands to his stomach, the muscles taut and quivering from his strain, she trailed up and leant forwards, meeting his mouth with hers. Instantly he thrust his tongue in and stroked against hers, she angled her head to deepen the kiss and buried her hands into his hair while they continued to thrust against each other, almost desperately now.

She could feel the familiar coiling in the pit of her belly tightening with every harsh thrush from Natsu and pretty soon the rhythm fell apart as they moved desperately and erratically.

"Natsu..." She whispered against his lips before her mouth fell open in a soundless cry, she dropped her head against his collar bone, her body trembled from the tremors of her orgasm. Below her she could hear Natsu growl, his hips picking up speed and his body growing taught.

With a shuddered whimper from Natsu and a couple more broken thrusts he stilled, she could feel him pulsate inside as he released into the condom. His entire body shuddered before he dropped against the floor, an exhausted and absolutely satiated breath falling from his mouth. Lucy let herself collapse against him, her body losing all energy but when he wrapped his arms around her smaller frame she snuggled deeper into his warmth, sighing happily.

His chest rumbled against her cheek as he chuckled, lazily she lifted her head to look at his face only to see his grinning up at the ceiling.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"Not that I'm complaining but where the hell did that come from?" He ran his fingers through her hair when she dropped her face against his clammy chest, heat engulfing her cheeks, now that the desperate need had been dealt with she felt suddenly quite embarrassed by her wanton behaviour.

"I-It's been over a week and I... I wanted you." She drew little patterns on his chest with the tip of her finger, feeling sheepish and still a little embarrassed.

"Huh, if I had known you were in the mood I would have done something sooner it's just you've been feeling sick and I thought you needed rest." He hugged her tighter, kissing the top of her head lightly.

"So you haven't..." She stopped, realising how stupid it actually sounded and wishing she hadn't thought of it in the first place, of course he hadn't grown tired of her.

"Haven't what?"

"It's nothing, I was just being weird."

"Tell me something I don't know." He muttered quickly followed by a bark of laughter. She rolled her eyes, not at all surprised but with a sly smile she pinched his nipple. "Ow!" He flinched beneath her the movement doing interesting things to the area where their bodies were still joined.

To her surprise a gasp escaped her lips and Natsu stilled, she peeked up at him, her cheeks alarmingly warm, only to meet his cocky grin and a suggestive gleam in his humoured eyes.

"Oh... is Lucy still hungry?" He purred. She wanted to protest but his hands had started rubbing down her back slowly until they were cupping her rear, his thumbs rubbing circles on her flesh until she was writhing a little.

She bit her lip and glanced away but apparently there was something on her face that completely gave her away because all of a sudden she was on her back and she was gazing up at her dragon slayer with wide eyes and parted lips while he stirred his hips against hers. A breathy sigh fell from her parted lips and shiver of excitement ran up through her body.

Natsu had her hands locked above her head with one of his larger ones while the other ran down and over her chest and stomach, he stopped at the hem of her skirt which was still bunched around her hips.

Already she could feel that wanton feeling rise again, tendrils of desire snaking its way through her already quivering body.

She pulled at her hands, wanting to run them through his hair, to run them across his built torso and along his broad back but he only tightened his grip and grinned.

"Nu uh, you had your turn now it's my turn to play." He whispered just before lowering his head to the juncture of her throat.

And it was at the moment her stomach growled so loud it took both her and Natsu by surprise, he pulled his head up and looked down at her stomach before looking back up at her, humour twinkling in his onyx eyes overshadowing the lust that had been swirling in them moments ago.

"I kind of meant the sexy hunger but if you that kind of hungry that's cool too." And then he laughed. He released her hands and she instantly covered her burning face, her stomach growling again to further embarrass her.

"I'm sorry..." She mumbled, the words muffled behind her arms but Natsu only laughed harder, he nuzzled the side of her face in an attempt to move her arms away but she turned her face away far too embarrassed to look at him.

"It's alright, how about we get something to eat and then we could continue where we left off, I had some pretty neat stuff planned before you're belly interrupted." She peeked through her arms, her eyes meeting Natsu's only to see the lewd grin lighting up his face. "But first..." He jumped up, his trousers falling down to his ankles with a thud, startled she started tugging at her skirt to cover herself a little feeling suddenly quite exposed. "...We should clean up, you know these condoms aren't really all that comfortable." He looked down at his crotch, completely unabashed by his exposure and at the mention her eyes dropped down too, a blush creeping up again but her eyes widened when he started to tug at the tip and she quickly reached up and stopped him.

"Idiot, don't take it off like that, remember the last time." She snapped.

"But..."

"Bathroom." She pointed behind her to the curtained room and he grumbled but his grinned returned promptly and a twinkle of mischief swam in his eyes. "Natsu...?" She questioned. She cried out in alarm when he suddenly swooped down and picked her up and in a single motion he threw her over his shoulder. "Natsu!"

"Let's shower!" He announced before carrying her off to the bathroom with a boisterous laugh and half hearted protest from the blonde.

From previous experiences, that being the one time she'd voluntarily allowed him to join her and all the other times he'd snuck in while she wasn't looking, she knew the last they were going to do was shower.

Lucy had many weaknesses but by far Natsu was her biggest, she could never say no to him.

"Fine but you make me something to eat afterwards!" She shouted right before the water started running.

"Yeah, yeah." Came his muffled response as he tucked into his own specially prepared meal.


	4. Cycle

**Hmmm... it's shorter than the rest but hopefully that's ok **

It was a late afternoon one day that found Lucy sat crossed legged on her bed with her calendar spread open in front of her carefully going over the dates over and over. She had everything marked out on this custom made calendar, each month the face of her friends greeted her with big grins and fond memories. She had birthdays, anniversaries, rent dates, lunch dates with the girls, mission reminders – that littered each page with the amount Natsu liked to take and the amount they had to take due to Natsu ability to 'accidentally' destroy everything in his path, how would she make rent otherwise.

And of course like any girl she had her monthly cycle jotted down with a little red dot in the corner of the date.

This was why Lucy found herself flicking through her calendar.

Earlier in the day she'd been at the guild hanging out with Levy and Lisanna, Levy gushing over the release of a new book from her favourite author and definitely not – much to her insistence – because Gajeel had bought it for her while he was out of town on a mission, a mission that was conveniently situated in the same town where the first release was due.

Lisanna was very much like Mira, and Lucy greatly suspected that she was working as a spy for the demon takeover mage, and was digging for little snippets of information, casually bringing up her and Natsu's relationship in conversation from time to time which Lucy, she thought, had deflected masterfully.

It's when the topic of marriage came up that Lucy spluttered in alarm almost choking on her vanilla milkshake.

She wandered how many times she'd say 'too soon' to people before they just let it be.

Sometime during their conversation she'd started to feel a dull ache building in her lower abdomen, a familiar sensation she had to suffer through once a month without fail. A quick peek through her bag told her that she had forgotten to pack any sanitary towels. Her body worked like clockwork, always starting on time, it being the only regular thing in her hectic life, but because of that she was normally always prepared for this kind of situation, just in case she was on a mission or something, but with everything that was going on at the moment it had just slipped her mind.

She made her excuses and left the two girls to head home, fortunately the ache didn't build up much more during the walk home, it never got quite as bad as some of the girls in guild, Levy would disappear from the guild for a few days, Mira would be easier to set off, even Erza would devour more cake then usual and sit quietly in the corner of the guild ignoring all fights and brawls.

She didn't know if the guys of the guild knew why she was more complacent during that time but they sure hell knew how to take advantage of it.

Lucy had it fairly easy, drink some camomile tea, grab a hot water bottle, or Natsu whatever was available for warmth and take a nap, she found that when she woke up any aches were gone or fading and the rest of her cycle was easy riding.

She got to her apartment, letting the door click close behind her and for a moment she stood in silence listening for the sound of any intruders. She was a little disappointed when she heard neither Natsu or Happy throughout her home, though it was a bit much to hope that they'd come back from their mission so soon after leaving.

It'd been a little over a week since their last mission and Natsu was running low on food money and was growing restless so he and Happy had taken on a request making this the first time in a while that they'd gone without her, she felt a little dejected at being left behind and coming home to an empty apartment made her feel a little lonely.

The first thing she did was flick the kettle on before heading to the bathroom with spare underwear. She went through the motions but stopped short when she looked down, where she had expected to see red she saw none.

It wasn't unusual for cramps to begin before bleeding but she'd always had her first flow along with her first cramps. It's fine, she assured herself, this month had been an odd one and with this week's stresses it was probably just messing with her flow, it was nothing to panic over.

She quickly applied a pad to her underwear and pulled up, she flushed, washed her hands and went about preparing a hot water bottle and tea.

Dropping the towel wrapped hot water bottle on the bed and her tea on her bedside table she grabbed her calendar off the wall and spread it out over her bed.

That had been half an hour ago and she was still looking through, checking and double checking the dates. The hot water bottle was clutched to her stomach though the pain seemed to have already subsided and her camomile tea had been forgotten on the side.

The red dot for this current month was two days ago but she'd been so distracted she hadn't thought about it.

It was too early to jump to conclusions but for a moment she wandered if it was possible that... no. Her and Natsu had been careful, they'd used protection every time she was positive so that couldn't be possible... though the nausea... nope, she was just stressed that had to be it. She'd take a nap, relax and she was sure when she woke up her body would be back to normal.

She pushed the calendar aside placing it on her bedside table next to her forgotten tea before curling up on her side, the hot water bottle clutched to her belly even though the cramps had pretty much all gone by now but it didn't matter, this was her monthly routine, she'd stick to it.

She wasn't quite sure when she'd fallen asleep but she stirred awake when she felt the bed shift beside her, the now cold water bottle was gently pried from her limp grasp and a familiar warmth that could only belong to her partner replaced it, his calloused hand tucking under her shirt and rubbing soothing circles over her abdomen . He pushed himself up against the length of her back and curled his legs under hers so that he was completely wrapped around her.

"Welcome home." She whispered.

His hand stilled for a moment, surprised to find her awake, before gently squeezing her hip and continuing the soothing motion along her abdomen.

"I'm home." He responded, his breath fanning over the side of her neck. She allowed herself to sink into his chest and trailed a hand down to his, she slid her fingers over and in between his fingers, linking their hands over her belly.

It wasn't long before she drifted off again.

It was the overwhelming heat that woke her up again, Natsu was wrapped around her like ivy, his limbs thrown over hers haphazardly, his arms clutching her to him so tightly it was almost suffocating. Natsu was a surprisingly cuddly person and in his sleep she very much became his human sized teddy bear, not she minded of course.

But tonight she felt like she was melting.

As gently as she could she pried his arms open and slid out from underneath him without waking him, she peeked over her shoulder to fortunately see he was still out. She giggled quietly when he snuggled up to her pillow instead.

She stretched out her stiff joints and grimaced when she realised that she was still wearing her day clothes, her blouse now crinkled beyond belief and somewhat damp from her own clamminess.

First she'd change then she'd pop to the bathroom to clean up, amongst other things.

She'd learnt to wear light clothing to bed if Natsu was sharing, his heat could become overwhelming and there was nothing quite as uncomfortable as sweating while trying to get a decent night's sleep so she picked an airy silk camisole with matching shorts and headed to the bathroom to change.

She dumped her shirt in the wash basket along with her jeans and went through the routine of washing and readying herself for bed before finally settling over the toilet. She glanced down at her underwear and a sigh of relief escaped her when she spotted red dotting the liner.

It was fairly lighter than usual but it was fine as long as there was something.

Humming happily, though not many girls would be happy about starting their period, she changed the pad for a fresh one and finished off. She flushed and left the room with a little skip to her step. On her bed Natsu was still completely knocked out and on the sofa Happy was curled up on a cushion, a little grin on his face as he no doubt dreamt about fish or Charle.

She stopped by and scratched him behind the ear, smiling softly when his ear twitched and he purred contentedly.

Lucy grabbed herself a glass of water from the kitchen before climbing back into bed with Natsu, the room was warm so she didn't bother getting under the duvet instead choosing to snuggle up against Natsu. In his sleep he shifted, automatically moving his arm around her to bring her closer, he buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath before relaxing against her completely.

"Where'd you go Lucy?" He voice was muffled against her hair and raspy from sleep.

"Toilet, I didn't mean to wake you." She reached up and stroked the side of his face and he hummed, satisfied. It was funny how similar his and Happy's reaction were.

"S'kay."

"How did your mission go?" She enquired, not really expecting a full answer from the sleepy man.

"Alright... didn't destroy anything... and I got all the reward..."

"That's a first." She muttered with a light snort.

"Enough to help towards your rent...' He muttered on, sleepily. Her eyes shot wide open, she shifted so that she could look at his face only to find he had his eyes still closed, clearly on the brink of sleep.

"Natsu you don't-"

"Shh," He interrupted, a finger pressed firmly over her lips. She smacked her lips together and drew her brows together in unease. She didn't want to have to rely on Natsu to pay her rent, as much as she appreciated the gesture, she didn't want to become dependent on him. "Go to sleep." He pulled her head down and tucked it under his chin and almost immediately he went limp, falling asleep before she could protest.

Despite his comforting presence her brow knotted together in concern, she still had to figure out what was happening to her magic. Was she really ill? Or was it something else? A suspicion arose but she really didn't want to think about it... if she had started her period then there was no way that...

She sighed, resting her forehead against Natsu's collar, anxiety rested heavily on her heart making her feel nauseous again.

Tomorrow she'd try and summon Loke and hope that she was wrong otherwise things were going to get complicated.


	5. The Doctors

**It's time... Just wanted to thanks to the people who have reviewed, some really positive feedback and comments which are so greatly appreciated and to all the people who have favourited and followed this story, it makes me really happy that people have taken the time to read this ^^**

The gold key glinted in the sunlight that streamed through her bedroom window as she turned it over in her fingers. It had been over a week since she had summoned Loke and it was about time she tried again though she kind of suspected it would end the same way.

She'd snuck out of the guild while Natsu was brawling to do this alone, Loke was smart if she'd figured it out then he probably had as well and she just wasn't ready to involve Natsu yet, at least not until she had confirmation.

Her 'period' hadn't really been that at all, there was some spotting yesterday morning but checking later in the day she found nothing, halfway through the next day still there was nothing only further confirming her suspicions.

What would she do if she was?

For the time being she would summon Loke and hope he had another suggestion, she didn't have long though, it wouldn't take Natsu much longer to notice she was missing and he was quite accomplished at tracking her down no matter where she was.

Resolute, she nodded her head and stood, she thrust the key out in front of her and chanted the familiar lines. Instantly she felt the pull and strain of magical energy from inside, and too quickly she drained resources, there was no Loke and she was exhausted.

She dropped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh, finding herself surprisingly out of breath, the sickness she'd had been able to ignore up until now rose to the fore and she clutched at her rolling stomach.

But she was able to ignore all of that because she was reeling from this discovery... she really couldn't summon Loke and that terrified her. He was one of her strongest spirits but she'd never had so much trouble summoning him before. Hell, she'd summoned three, under dire situations, and even the spirit king. In less stressful situation she was still able to summon a string of spirits if she needed to so this sudden weakness shook to her very core.

Right now as a mage she was useless.

"Lucy?" Loke's voice interrupted her inner turmoil, the spirit yanking off his sunglasses and dropping to his knees in front of her, his brows drawn together in concern.

"I couldn't do it..." Her voice cracked at the end, a small sob breaking through. She lifted her hand to her face and patted her cheek, wet from tears, she hadn't realised she was crying and cursed herself again for being so weak.

"Hey, it's ok, I don't think it anything you should worry about."

"I can't summon my spirits, Loke, I think it something to be worried about." She snapped but Loke was already shaking his head.

"It's temporary," He said, sounding confident, "I spoke to Crux and he said that it's been known for women to go through a stage of magic deficiency while... um... well Lucy have you thought about going to a doctor?"

It's not like she hadn't been thinking the same thing but to have someone say their suspicions out loud made her flinch, she wrapped her arms around her abdomen and frowned down at the floor.

"N-no... do you think I should?" She avoided his gaze, not wanting to see the piteous look she was sure he was giving her.

"...Yeah, I think you should, as soon as possible."

"I 'm scared." She confessed quietly. "I'm not ready for this and I know he's not ready for... what do I do?" She finally met his eyes, desperation clashing with pity.

"Panicking won't get you anywhere, go to the doctor's first, have it confirmed before you start over thinking and then talk to Natsu, he's an idiot but he'll never let you down... but I'm sure you already know that."

Slowly, she nodded her head, of course he'd never let her down or push her away, he was ridiculously loyal and extremely protective but that didn't alter the fact that mentally they just weren't ready for this kind of responsibility, she could hardly pay her rent most months and Natsu was still much too destructive, hot-headed and a lot of the time he could be so childish.

They both needed to mature a little before taking responsibility for another life.

And let's not forget they'd only been together for such a short amount of time, she'd heard of young couples having children much too early on in a relationship and it tearing them apart. What if the same thing happened to them? Sure they had a strong bond and knew each other inside and out but the future was just too unpredictable.

"Try and make an appointment today, the longer you leave it the longer it will eat at you."

"...Ok." She wiped her hand across her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping she could draw in some confidence but right now it felt as if everything was weighing down on her and all she wanted to do was curl up under her duvet and never leave. "I will." She tried to sound resolved but her voice was still trembling and all Loke could do was squeeze her hand reassuringly and silently offer his support.

The clattering of the window opening made her gasp in surprise, she pulled her hands from Loke's and furiously scrubbed at her eyes hoping he wouldn't notice how red and blotchy they were from crying but she knew it was futile, even if he didn't see he'd smell the tears.

"Yo Lucy why'd you leave me behind..." He trailed off once spotting Loke. "Loke, what are you doing here?" He sniffed the air, she watched as his eyes widened and his body stiffened before his expression settled on a scowl. "Why is Lucy crying?" He growled, the sound threatening as intended and the question seemingly aimed at Loke.

'Ah... well, you see Lucy's ... uh... she's... Lucy?' Loke turned pleading eyes to Lucy and she took pity.

"Natsu it's ok, I'm just a feeling a bit emotional, there's nothing to worry about." But he didn't calm down.

"It's got to be something if it's making you cry." He leapt off of the bed and in two long strides he was sitting on the sofa next to her, his arms around her frame, she was surprised by the sudden action but it didn't take long for her to sink into his comforting warmth. With him here like this her worry's seemed to fade away and for a moment she felt peaceful.

"She tried to summon me but it didn't work," Loke answered for her, "she's upset, that's all." Slowly Lucy nodded her head to confirm this, she didn't like keeping things from him but until she was sure there was no point worrying him, he didn't handle stressful situation very well and it was enough that he had to worry about her. "Now that you're back though I'll take my leave," Loke met Lucy's eyes with his own, 'remember what I said." And with that he vanished back to the spirit world.

"What did he mean by that?" Natsu asked after a moment's silence. Lucy disentangled herself from Natsu's arms and stood up.

"It's nothing much, he thinks I should go to the doctors."

"That's probably a good idea." He agreed, he sat back into the sofa and watched her as she pulled a jacket on. She felt nervous, he was looking at her with those eyes, the ones that suspected something, he wasn't dumb, he knew she was hiding something from him but he knew better then to pressure her into telling him. "Where you going?"

"Town I was thinking of trying the walk in clinic."

"Why not Porlyusica?"

"I don't want to bother her over something like this, she's cranky at the best of times having her day interrupted because of some minor nausea won't put us on her good side." She shivered at the very thought of approaching that woman about something like this, she'd be quick to shoo them away with the head of her broom.

"...Ok then I'll come with you." Natsu didn't give her a moment to protest, he grabbed her keys off the little table by her sofa, wrapped a his hand around hers and pulled her out through the door giving her just enough time to snag her bag off the back of a chair.

"Natsu! Calm down, there's no rush!" She trailed behind while he dragged her finding it hard to keep up with his pace.

"If they can give you something to make you feel better then I want to get there as soon as possible." His concern was touching but she doubted that they could give her anything that would help, she was fairly certain what the outcome would be and if that was the case then she had no choice but to work through it, it's not as if she'd ever consider the alternative.

She kept quiet as he pulled her forwards, watching his back as he lead the way with the best of intentions.

Well at least she couldn't back out now.

When he came to a stop she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she barged right into his back, knocking him forwards but as usual his reflexes were amazing and he steadied himself and held her up right.

"At least warn me when you're going to stop." She snapped.

"My bad... but we're here." She looked over his shoulder and sure enough there was the small clinic, painted white on the outside and equally as white and clinical on the inside. Her nerves returned tenfold, settling heavily on her heart and making her feel sick again. She wanted to run away right now, pretend she didn't know and remain blissfully unaware but of course that wouldn't change anything, either she found out now or found out later and be unprepared.

She had to do this after all she was a responsible adult and responsible people did the right thing.

Feeling anything but determined she walked past Natsu and into the clinic, the double door opened easily and she was greeted with that eerie quietness that clung to these establishments despite the group of people crowding the waiting room. Natsu followed her in making some comment about how depressing doctor's surgeries were she wanted to agree but she was too nervous to respond.

At the reception sat a portly woman who fortunately, despite the aura of gloom in the air, looked relatively friendly.

"Hello." The older woman looked up from her paper work and offered Lucy and Natsu a welcoming smile.

"Hello dearies, what can I do for you?"

"I don't have an appointment but I was wandering if there was a slot for sometime today?" Lucy asked in a hushed voice, talking normally in this environment almost seemed like she was shouting.

"I'll just have a look for you." The lady pulled out a hefty diary from under her counter, licking the tip of her finger she flicked through the pages until she reached the one she desired and scanned over the page.

"You're in luck, one of our doctors has had a cancellation, she'll be able to see you in half hours time." Lucy kept her smile in place but on the inside she was grimacing, why was it that everything seemed to be going her way, was it too much to ask that she be given some time to mentally prepare. She sighed, no this was good, definitely no backing out now.

"That's perfect, I'll take it."

"Excellent I'll just let the doctor know, in the meantime," The old lady plucked a sheet from the desk trays and attached it to a clip board along with a pen, "if you'd like to fill in this form, it's just a brief questionnaire on your medical history."

"Sure." She took the offered clipboard and with one last smile at the receptionist she turned back to Natsu and nodded towards the waiting room.

The room held a generous amount of people, mostly elderly, the few young people she saw looked as if they'd rather be somewhere else, not so much that they looked worried but they looked kind of bored.

Natsu found them two seats, he sat on the one closest to the old man with a red nose and chesty cough leaving the other available between him and a lady, Lucy balked when she noted the bulge that protruded from the woman's abdomen, she was running a hand over her belly looking as if she was far away.

Gulping nervously Lucy sat, every now and then her eyes darting back to the pregnant woman, her heart clenching uncomfortably and her stomach twisting into knots.

Catching herself again she silently scolded herself and refocused her attention back on the form on her lap. She settled for answering all the easy questions first, her name, address, allergies, diabetic or suffered from any other ailment, on any medication and so on before answering the rest.

Natsu was surprisingly quiet, when she peeked at him she saw that he was tense, his nose scrunched up uncomfortably as if there was a smell he couldn't stand, she couldn't blame him, they were surrounded by illnesses and his nose was sensitive to every single one of them, even with her less sensitive nose she could pick up on the stagnant aroma.

"You don't have to wait with me, you know?" She whispered.

"I'm not going to leave you." He was giving her another one of those looks that told her she'd said something weird. She was going to respond but hearing him say he wasn't going to leave her held more meaning to her then he realized, instead she settled with a smile and reached over to squeeze his hand before finishing off the form.

Gradually the room began to empty as people filtered into a various rooms, she watched as the lady next to her struggled to stand up, holding her bump the entire time in a protective manner, and disappearing into one of the rooms.

"Lucy Heartfilia?" Lucy's head snapped up, she was greeted by a fair haired woman with a warm smile. She swallowed nervously and shakily handed the clipboard to Natsu to hand back to the receptionist. She made her way to the waiting doctor and followed her into the room, casting one last look over her shoulder at Natsu who in turn was watching her with brows drawn together and his lips pulled together in a thin line.

She took the offered seat opposite the smiling doctor and shifted nervously.

"What can I do for you today Miss Heartfilia?"

"Um... I... well over the last week I've been feeling sick and lethargic, to the point it's affecting my magic ability."

"You're a mage?"

"Yes." The doctor nodded and made a note in the pad on her desk.

"This sickness, have you brought anything up? Any particular foods that make you feel worse or is it certain activities... I understand as a mage you're probably in a guild, means a lot of travelling for jobs right?"

"Yes but this is the first time I've felt like this. I've thrown up twice but the feeling is almost constant." The doctor made more notes and Lucy fiddled with the hem of her top nervously, her heart was pounding and she was feeling somewhat faint.

"You mentioned feeling lethargic." Lucy nodded. The doctor looked at her thoughtfully before smiling softly. "If you mind me asking when was your last period?" Lucy flushed red and bit her lip.

"It was supposed to start four days ago, I had a little bit of blood and some pain but it was over quickly." The doctor nodded her head as if something had been confirmed. Lucy held her breath.

"And you're regular?"

"Very."

"And have you considered taking a pregnancy test?" And there it was, the word that Lucy had been avoiding, hoping not to hear, with a sharp intake of breath she fell back into the chair, she shook her head. "What you are experiencing is very common during the first three months of pregnancy, your hormones are changing causing reactions within your body which can often cause nausea, naturally since your body is working on creating a new life you'll run out of energy a lot sooner than usual that same logic applies to magic users." The doctor stood up and walked over to the little sink over in the corner of the room, opening a draw she pulled out a pot. "If you're willing we could do a test for you now, do you think you can manage a sample?"

Mutely, Lucy nodded her head, shell-shocked.

"Great," She passed the pot over to the stupefied blonde and pointed to a secondary door to the right of the main door she came through, "bathroom is through that door there."

"Thanks." She muttered listlessly, she stood up on shaky legs and made her way to the toilet with a heavy heart.

By the time she came out she was feeling horrendously sick again but she swallowed back the burning feeling in her throat and sat awkwardly while the doctor fiddled with a pair of latex gloves, Lucy watched attentively and with a little embarrassment as she opened up a pack and pulled out a little swab, opened the sample and dipped the swab in, Lucy gulped anxiously as the seconds passed and finally when the doctor removed the stick it instantly turned a startling shade of pink.

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked feeling impatient.

The doctor went through the motions of taking her gloves off and washing her hands as if to prolong the agony before turning to face Lucy, she smiled gently and Lucy's stomach dropped.

"Well, what that means is that... congratulations Miss Heartfilia, you're pregnant."


	6. Emotional

**Once again thank you for any reviews, nothing but nice and encouraging which I am so grateful for, and any favs and follows, this is doing better then I had envisioned so I'm thrilled people are enjoying it. **

**This is the longest chapter so far so enjoy ^^**

**Updated: somebody pointed out to me that I made an error with the information with about dietary needs during pregnancy, Thank you for pointing this out to me becasue you're a quite right the Shark, Swordfish and and Marlin are avoided because of Mercury not vitamin A and only Liver is avoided due to high concentration of retinol, a type of Vitamin A, a high build up of the stuff can prove harmful to an unborn baby, it is safe to have small natural doses from things like eggs, dairy, meats, oily fish, and cereals. It is also best to avoid supplements or multi-vitamins with vitamin A since its the preformed version, though there are pregnancy vitamins that provide a safer type of Vitamin A that's ok to take.**

**I've now corrected that part. **

**This was me trying to remember what my midwife said over seven months ago... I should check my facts first cause I have proven to have terrible memory ^^ **

The doctor sat quietly in her chair giving Lucy time for the news to sink in, probably accustomed to this kind of situation but since Lucy was so staggered by the confirmation she was grateful for the moment.

Honestly she didn't know how to feel, disappointed in herself for a start for getting pregnant at such an early stage in life, there was still so much to do. Frightened, since she wasn't really ready to be a mum, some days she could barely look after herself so how was she supposed to be responsible for another life. She was also frightened about what this would do to her and Natsu; what would he say? Would he be happy or just as frightened as her? He was the sort that took things head on but if she had days were she couldn't look after herself then he was in no better shape.

A little part of her was awed, somehow her and Natsu had come together and created a new life, it may be unexpected and an accident but it was still a beautiful thing in the end.

It's not like she hadn't planned to have kids one day, she just had it figured that she'd be married first, a bit older and more experienced, it would be planned, and she'd be overjoyed but right now all she felt was dread.

After getting over the shock Natsu may see this as another challenge and accept it but Lucy was, as always, a little doubtful of herself, since it was unplanned would she feel anything towards it? Would she grow to love it or feel nothing at all? And that there terrified her as well, she could turn out to be a terrible mother.

Aquarius had once told her she was everything her mother was not and her mother was a good parent, did that mean she wouldn't be? Lucy's own experience with parents weren't great, the loss of her mother at such a young age and the bad relationship she had with her father didn't really offer her much guidance. Though her mother was a good mother Lucy was much too young to remember why that was, she could remember the stories she read, the tender smiles and warm hugs but surely there was more to it than that.

And besides all that what was she supposed to do about going on jobs, it's not like she could go with team Natsu since they picked such dangerous missions and by the sounds of it her magic would be on the fritz for some time so she wouldn't be much help anyway. She could do little errand jobs but they didn't pay so well and there weren't enough of those to cover a month's rent.

...she hadn't even thought about rent.

She wanted to cry but she bit her lip and held back, now was not the time to emotionally break down, the doctor looked as if she wanted to talk and Lucy knew she had to listen.

"Sorry," She apologized for keeping her waiting, "the news is quite shocking."

The doctor nodded her head but kept a reassuring smile in place, she probably came across this scene far too often in her job.

"Are you ok for me to go over some details with you?" Lucy nodded, tucking her hands together on her lap and taking a deep breath. "Is this your first pregnancy?"

"Yes."

"I'll book you an appointment with our resident midwife, her next available appointment is next week and she'll just go over all your medical history and that of the father's so it might be best if he's available too, she'll also need a sample of urine and she'll take some blood for testing, nothing serious just to check your blood group and iron count, then another sample to check your haemoglobin levels and for any undetected illnesses you may have in your system and depending on what immunities you have she may even suggest vaccinations." The doctor paused, wrote a note in her diary while Lucy tried her best to absorb the information.

"Do you know much about what kinds of foods you need to avoid during this time or would like me to explain?"

"Please." Lucy knew nothing at all, this was all uncharted territory.

"The main ones are soft cheeses, avoid mould-rippened cheese or blue cheese since they contain a lot of bacteria, hard and processed cheeses are ok though, Liver is a particularly dangerous one due to high levels of vitamin A which can be quite harmful to your foetus and any uncooked meats or fish, if you are going to have fist try not to eat shark, swordfish or marlin since it contains a lot of mercury which can also bring harm to your unborn child, eggs must be fully cooked yolk included, and check food labels to make sure if it has milk or egg in it, that it's pasteurised."

By this point Lucy was feeling quite faint, so much information and there was so much that could harm a baby, would she really be ok?

"Try to eat more leafy greens and I'm sure this goes without saying but eat well balanced meals, there's nothing saying you have to eat for two so don't feel like you have to eat more. Are you taking any vitamins supplements at the moment?"

"No."

"Then I also recommend you start taking folic acid and vitamin D supplements, they are essential, especially during the first 15 weeks while your baby is forming." The doctor was watching her with sympathetic eyes and Lucy saw the flash of pity which only made her feel worse. "It's a lot to take in I know," She reached into her draw and pulled out a little booklet before passing it to Lucy, she took it with numb hands. "This summarises everything I've just told you and perhaps a little more information I might have missed, hopefully it put you a bit more at ease."

She was being so nice about it that Lucy didn't have the heart to say she had misunderstood her shell-shocked behaviour, sure she was reeling from the overload of information but she was still somewhat disorientated by the news of her pregnancy. She had tried to lock away her concerns until a more appropriate time but they just wouldn't stop trying to claw their way out, to swamp her with anxiety.

Another concern she hadn't quite been able to push back was the how? Obviously she knew_ that_ how but the other was how had she gotten pregnant in the first place when she and Natsu had been protected every time, she couldn't recall a time they hadn't been wearing one and any time he'd tried to get cheeky she had promptly kneed him in stomach as warning.

Unless they were having some super miracle baby there must have a been a moment, perhaps a faulty condom, she was aware that even they weren't a hundred percent effective but Natsu must have noticed if there was a tear or something... or maybe not when she thought about it, he was always eager to get the thing off or falling asleep; as if he'd pay attention to something like that.

She'd probably have to talk to him about it... she groaned internally, she still had to tell him. What the hell was he going to say? He was just so unpredictable she couldn't guess, yet another thing that scared her.

"By the end of the week you should receive a letter from us with the information of your booking appointment with the midwife."

"O-ok... thank you."

"Not at all... I wish you all the best."

Her legs were trembling and she was worried she wouldn't be able to walk out but somehow she managed to make it to the door, she turned smiled gratefully towards the doctor and opened the door only to come face to face with Natsu.

She gasped in surprise before sighing in annoyance.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack, geez... Natsu?" He was staring at her with wide eyes, his brows raised and drawn together in what seemed like shock while he gaped, she waved a hand in front of his face and when he didn't respond she panicked. "Oi Natsu, what's gotten into you?" She looked behind him then at the door of the doctor's room behind herself quizzically. "Don't tell me you were eavesdropping..." She trailed off, suddenly very aware why Natsu was acting this way. Fear like she'd never known before clawed up through her body and settled heavily on her heart, each painful beat of her heart making her catch her breath. "What did you hear?" She demanded, a tremor in her voice that seemed to snap Natsu out from his daze.

"P-p-pregnant..." He stuttered, he raised a finger pointing to at her and she gasped, reeling back against the door. Sweat seemed to bead on his brow as he continued to gape at her, she had no idea what was going through his mind but she almost collapsed when he stuttered the next sentence. "Still too soon to move in with me?"

It was her turn to gape at him, stupefied by the fact he could bring that up while they had more pressing matters. Her surprise soon turned to irritation and the only hint Natsu received was an imperceptible twitch of her eye before she punched him square in the face.

"I already said I was sorry so could you stop with the groaning." Lucy muttered, trying her hardest to remain calm.

She was still somewhat red faced after the ordeal at the doctor's. After her knockout punch the people in the waiting room that had witnessed the event had made it into something worse. For an hour while they cleaned up his bloody nose and waited for him to wake up all she could hear was whispered remarks of how sorry they felt for the pink haired boy to have such an abusive partner and she couldn't say anything to defend herself without discussing her personal issues, like hell she was going to tell a bunch of strangers about her pregnancy just to shut them up.

They could say what they wanted but she had every right to hit him... somehow he'd gotten her pregnant, this was definitely his fault... maybe.

"They said I was lucky my nose wasn't broken; what the hell did you punch me for anyway?"

"For not taking it seriously and for eavesdropping on a personal consultation," She sniffed in irritation, refusing to look at him while she walked on ahead. "Besides you've had worse."

"I wasn't eavesdropping, or at least not intentionally, I was pacing cause I was worried and I happened to overhear, remember I have sensitive hearing." He pointed to his ears but she continued to huff and stomp like a petulant child and she was well aware that she was acting like a child but she needed to expel some of this anxiety and right now Natsu was her target. "What does it matter if I overheard, you would have told me anyway."

"After some mental preparation yes I would have but I wasn't ready." She snapped.

"So you weren't going to tell me straight away?" He sounded... angry. She stopped walking and looked up at him, he stopped as well, hands in his pocket, his lips pursed and his eyes ...disappointed?

"Don't bend this out of shape, I would have told you by the end of the day I just needed time to get the words straight and for it to sink in... I'm... I'm pregnant... Oh Mavis, I'm pregnant." It was the first time she'd said it out loud and it just didn't sound right coming from her mouth, it felt almost surreal, not dreamlike but she just couldn't believe it.

Looking down at her flat stomach, she took a deep shuddering breath, right now a foetus the size of a grain of rice was in growing inside and it was up to her to keep it safe, she was responsible for it.

"I'm not ready for this.' She felt the heat of her tears trail down her cheeks, quickly she covered her face with her hands and sniffed trying her hardest to stop the sobs, even when Natsu came forwards and wrapped his arms around her shoulders pulling her tight against his chest she couldn't stop the flow.

So she just let it go. She clung on to his front and cried to her heart's content. Someone once told her that sometimes a good cry was all you needed to vent and maybe they were right, she'd been trying to stay strong through all of this. She couldn't shoulder this burden on her own anymore so she was relieved that Natsu knew... and he wasn't running for the hills.

"We're a team aren't we?" His voice was hushed, his mouth pressed to the top of her head. She nodded, unable to bring up any words. "And we've gone on so many adventures together, defeated so many enemies and survived." She buried her head into her chest, bringing her arms up and around his torso to clutch the material of his vest. "The things we've been through together, with the guild, we've almost died several times, almost lost each other several times and yet here we both are.

"I'm not going to say it'll be easy cause I haven't got a single clue about being a dad or anything but if we're together then won't it be ok?"

"Hm." She hummed against his chest, a little nod to tell him that his words had done what they were supposed to, she was still scared but she wasn't alone.

"Explains a lot though." Natsu suddenly exclaimed as if he had just experienced an epiphany.

"Huh?" She pulled back to look up at him, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Your scent... It's changed because of the baby."

"R-really?" She reeled back when he dropped to his haunches and buried his nose against her abdomen. "Natsu!" She cried, alarmed, and extremely embarrassed. "Stop it, get up."

"Yep..." He whispered, with a soft yet oddly satisfied smile. "Definitely the baby... he smells like us." The awe in his voice made her forget their embarrassing position, she looked down at him, her eyes widening when she spotted the light blush on his cheeks... he looked so happy, why wasn't he as worried as she was? But then again Natsu was never the sort to over think things.

And when that disarming grin she loved so much lit up his face she had no choice but to give up, she dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead against his.

"Idiot." She mumbled but she was smiling, once again won over by Natsu and his contagious personality.

After a moment of tenderness she recalled that they were both kneeling in the middle of the street no doubt getting one or two weird looks from passers-by. "I bet we look really weird right now." She said. Natsu of course laughed not caring one iota what people thought of him.

"Probably... wanna head home?"

"Yeah my knees kind of hurt."

He jumped up before her and gave her a hand, she took it and he easily pulled her up to her feet and without releasing her hand they walked back to her apartment.

Despite the predicament, the atmosphere between them was calm, he hummed quietly, the corner of his lips tilted up in a half smile, their joined hands swung lazily, naturally, between them and for a moment she felt completely at ease, happy even.

She brushed a hand over her abdomen 'it's ok' she thought 'everything's going to be ok'.

Once they got to her apartment she watched in astonishment and slight annoyance as Natsu crouched down, his eyes focused on their target, her window, ready to leap and scale. She pushed him off balance and he looked up her in mild confusion.

"Could you at least use the door while I'm here to open it." She pulled out her keys and dangled them in front Natsu, he quickly stood and laughed sheepishly, a hand brushing the back of his head.

"Sorry habit I guess."

"You still use the window despite the fact that I gave you a key." She grumbled, almost to herself while she unlocked her door and pushed inside. "Don't tell me you lost it?" Her eyes narrowed on him but he narrowed them back before scoffing into his scarf that he had pulled up to cover the part of his face.

"As if... I know it's in my house so it's not lost." She gave him her best dead-pan look, just remembering the state of his house gave her the shivers.

"You lost it." She said with an air of finality. "It's a good thing I love you otherwise I'd be really _really_ mad at you right now." She mumbled over her shoulder. He frowned.

"You're totally mad at me right now." She didn't say anything more but he followed her in like a lost puppy and jumped on to her bed with a gleeful cry. She watched him roll around on her bed with that silly smile before shaking her head and settling at her desk.

"What are you doing over there," Natsu sat up, reclining on his elbows and the rest of him spread out across her bed. "Come to bed." It was a demand and she recognised the look on his face, any other day she would have skipped over quite obediently but it wasn't any other day, she'd had some big shocking news that will alter their future and he was acting as if it was nothing.

She kind of envied him.

"Not in the mood," She turned in her chair and crossed her arms. Natsu frowned, his body visibly sagging with disappointment. "Besides we need to talk." Natsu sat up abruptly, his expression became guarded as well as tense.

"W-what about?"

"My pregnancy." She clarified.

"...Is that all, man I was worried." He dropped against the bed, a hand coming up to cover his relieved face.

"What did you think I wanted to talk about?"

"I don't know, it's just that ice princess said if a girl ever says 'we need to talk' it's always a bad thing, a really bad thing and the worst thing I could think off is that you'd want to leave me or something like that." He sat back up, crossing his legs and arms and scowling out of the window, Lucy guessed he was coming up with some way to beat Gray up for making him worry like that.

"Nothing like that." She reassured him. "But it is important and I need you to be honest with me."

His scowled dropped and he refocused all his attention on her again, he nodded his head once and waited patiently.

"Was their ever a time that you didn't use a condom without me realizing?"

"No." His answer was instant. "I learnt my lesson thoroughly after that one time I almost forgot." They both grimaced, not really wanting to remember the event but despite that the memory flashed through her mind and she felt bad for over-reacting... again.

It was one of the first few times they had had sex, they were beginning to grow more comfortable being intimate with each other and it was one of the first times that things had got pretty heated and unpredictable due to the mutual desperation and heavy lust, so desperate for intimacy that when Natsu pushed at her entrance she screamed bloody murder and instinctively lifted her knee to stop him, accidently, though he still claims it was on purpose, catching one very tender testicles in her movement that crippled him momentarily.

All because he hadn't put on a condom first. After that, she had apologized profusely for hurting him in such a delicate area and the level of embarrassment and awkwardness quickly killed the mood. But Natsu never forgot to put one on after that and she suspected that's when he started carrying one in his pocket at all times.

She believed him, he wouldn't have forgotten.

"Then at some point there was a faulty one or it tore, it happens I know, and what with how... vigorous you can be it's entirely possible." She theorized but as she was speaking she saw it, a flash of guilt or something akin to it in his eyes that shifted away only briefly before schooling his expression. "Got something to say Natsu?" She narrowed her eyes and he grew nervous.

He shifted uncomfortably, the corner of his left eye twitched and the longer she stared at him the worse he seemed to get, till eventually he shoved both hands in his hair and pulled at it with a strained expression and drawn out groan.

"I just remembered this one time..." He stopped, his eyes dropping to the floor. "Not long ago actually, when one of the rubbers... broke." Lucy allowed herself a moment to let the words sink in all the time staring at him unblinking.

"...What?"

"I didn't realise until it was over, it's just you were doing amazing things with your mouth and your hands were everywhere and ... you were really hot I couldn't focus, I tore the packet open with my teeth and I think I might have damaged it without realising, it wasn't until later when I was taking it off that I saw... I was gonna tell you but you'd fallen asleep and then I... kind of forgot." He trailed off towards the end with a sheepish laugh.

"You forgot?" She muttered under her breath, Natsu looked up from the floor and met Lucy's gaze, she must have looked as angry on the outside as she felt on the inside because he shrank back, his face paled. "You forgot!" She yelled, this time he jumped but slowly nodded his head, not realising that that was the wrong thing to do. "You... you idiot! How could you forget to tell me something so important, this could have been prevented, there are preventative measures for situations like that... I am so mad right now!"

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, she almost calmed down when she saw how genuinely apologetic he looked but she was pregnant and it was his fault and she had no idea how she was supposed to feel about any of it.

"Get out." She murmured darkly. Natsu eyes widened and he sat forwards a look of determination crossing his face.

"Oi, let's not get hasty, I said I was sorry."

"You don't understand a thing!" She shouted. "Get out!" When he still didn't move from his position she grabbed the closest thing to her, a book, she wasn't too sure, anger was blurring her vision in the form of tears. "Get out I don't want to see or hear you right now so leave!" She raised her hand, ready to throw her projectile. This time, with a torn look, he jumped up from the bed and expertly dived through the window.

She dropped the book to the floor and dashed over to the window to slam it shut before dropping down on to the bed and letting her angry tears flow.

Down on the street, Natsu looked up at the window Lucy had just slammed shut, the sound scaring him, it had sounded so final. With a dejected sigh he tucked his hands in his pockets and made his way to the guild. He'd give her time to calm down and hopefully she'd forgive him otherwise he was going to have to do a lot of grovelling.

But for Lucy, he'd do anything.

**Currently it's only been in Lucy's point of view but I think daddy Natsu has a lot to think about as well while Lucy cools down so next chapter will be centered around him... **


	7. To Be A Dad

**This is all in Natsu's point of view and in future chapters I plan to incorporate his point of view more often since it's not only the mum's that worry. Hopefully it's not all that disappointing since I'm used to writing in Lucy's POV. **

The guild as always was heaving with activity when he stepped in, his sensitive ears picking up little conversation amongst all the loud chatter and light hearted arguments. He could hear Gray and Juvia whispering in the corner about things he'd rather not know, Gajeel snoring and the sound of Levy turning the page of a book, he could here Happy trying to coax Carla into accepting one of his 'prized' fishes he'd fished up that morning, he could here Mira and Lisanna chit chatting about love match nonsense.

Usually hearing the hustle and bustle of the guild hall was enough to lift his spirits but today not even that could bring him out of his funk... well at least he had hoped it would distract him even a little.

At his entrance several heads turned to look at the door and greeted him with a wave and nod, he returned the gesture hoping he's mustered up enough energy to bring up a smile. A little to his annoyance, though any other day he would have jumped in head first, several people attempted to rope him into a fight but with hands up in front of him he turned them down with a sheepish smile and muttered something about being hungry though right now he couldn't seem find an appetite.

He sat at the bar with a heavy sigh and dropped his head down on the surface with a heavy thud, shocking the people on either side of him.

"Oi Natsu is everything alright?" He didn't look up at the speaker, knowing Macao's voice so well.

"Hmm." He hummed half heartedly not bothering to lift his head. Macao shifted uncomfortably next to him, probably wandering why Natsu wasn't as lively as usual. Natsu frowned, why did he always have to be the entertainment? Right now he was going through a crisis, Lucy was furious at him and he had no idea how to make it up to her though he had to admit this was one really big cock-up. This oversight on his part would affect the rest of their future.

Honestly he didn't really see what there was to be so upset about, was it really that bad that she was going to have his baby, he'd already decided that he was going to be with her forever, eventually she would have had his children.

But Lucy was the sensible one, it's too soon, she'd always say when he asked about something as simple as moving in with him, if that was too soon then this definitely topped that. A part of him understood, they were young and inexperienced with so many adventures to go on but having a baby didn't mean that those adventures had to stop, for a time they'd be different types of adventures but when the baby grew up they could experiences more adventures together, like a new addition to the team.

The other part of him very much liked the sound of that, liked that Lucy smelt like him and that she was carrying his child, liked that this would make them a proper little family. He was sure that Happy would be thrilled.

"Mira-chan, can I have a vanilla milkshake please." The voice on the other side of him made him jump up in surprise, startling poor Macoa who spilled his drink down his front. Levy! She was Lucy's female best-friend and right now the thing that Lucy needed right now was a friend, if she didn't want to see or hear him then he'd send someone else to keep her company.

"Levy." He called out. She glanced over to him, her gale-force glasses resting precariously on her forehead slipped down ever so slightly.

"Hi Natsu... where's Lu-chan?" The bluenette looked around the room, it was true that if Natsu was here then Lucy was bound to be somewhere nearby since he rarely left her side, it saddened him to be reminded that she probably hated him right now.

"At her apartment, she's kind of a bit upset right now and doesn't want to talk to me, I was wandering if you could head over and keep her company," He scratched the back of his head bashfully as he asked, "She could really use a friend right now." Levy eyes widened but quickly she nodded her head causing the glasses to slip down completely. She clicked her tongue and removed them, shoving them in her bag and refocused her attention on Natsu.

"What happened?" He shook his head, it was up to Lucy if she wanted to tell Levy, if she had wanted to keep their relationship a secret because she didn't want attention then she definitely wasn't going to want anyone knowing she was pregnant until she was ready to tell them.

"Just do me this favour, I'd really appreciate it."

"Sure... well bye then." She waved towards him as she dashed from the guild, the doors slammed closed just as Mira placed Levy's forgotten milkshake on the surface.

"Oh where did Levy go to in such a rush?" Mira asked, looking at the door in concern, Natsu debated telling her but quickly decided against it, Mira couldn't keep a secret to save her life. He settled for shrugging his shoulders and taking the milkshake from her grip. He took a sip and grimaced, he never understood why Lucy liked these chilled milk drinks, so thick and heavy... something on fire would be much better.

"Papa!" Natsu looked over his shoulder, little Asuka, although not quite so little anymore, closing in on the age of eleven she'd soon be a teenager, she ran up to her dad and with a pleading expression begged him to let her go on a mission with Wendy, Carla and Romeo.

"I don't think so Asuka you're still too young to be taking requests." Was she? Natsu had been taking requests from the age of ten, was that too young? Not that he had much of a choice; he had no parents to support him so he had to fend for himself and then Happy when he came along.

Wendy wandered over to them with her gentle smile and patted the sulking Asuka on the head endearingly.

"It's ok Alzack-san, it's a local request in town to run some errands, Romeo is still recovering from our last mission so we're taking it easy." In the last few years Wendy had formed a team with Romeo, he thought that was great but Lucy always seemed to gush about how cute it was which he didn't really understand. He'd already decided that girls just thought a lot differently then guys did.

"Oh Wendy, well in that case I guess it's ok but Asuka, you've got listen to everything Wendy and Romeo tell you ok?"

"Ok papa, I promise."

It suddenly dawned on Natsu that one day he'd having someone like Asuka calling him papa, someone that relied on him and looked up to him for support and advice and for protection. Suddenly he understood why Lucy was so worried, that was a big responsibility, a big change and he had little to no experience. He was raised in the guild, with no set parents and all the grown-ups hadn't exactly been great role models.

He had Igneel but... he was a dragon, his idea of raising a child were a little different from that of human's.

How hard could it be though, he was great with Asuka, even Lucy had praised him on how good he was with the youngest member, Romeo looked up to him like an older brother so he must have done something right there and he hadn't done a bad job raising Happy.

He had no trouble protecting the people close to him, his own child would be just as precious to him as Lucy was and he'd saved her more times than he cared to count.

But then there was all the other stuff, he'd missed all of Asuka's baby years so he had no idea how it was to raise a baby, he knew they were delicate, very messy, and cried a lot, parents with babies always looked tired and drained... but they also looked happy, an aura of content that made it all look worth it.

He could ask for advice, several people in the guild were father's, gramps, Macao, in a few months time Elfman would be one too, Alzack, Gildarts...

Gramps relationship with his son was not good, not to say he'd done a bad job raising him, just that his opinion on the matter might be warped. Macao wasn't a bad father, Romeo grew up to be a great guy but the man was always drunk and he pretty much took a very laid back attitude to raising his kid. Elfman seemed relaxed for a man about to have a baby though a pregnant Evergreen was a scary lady, all he ever saw was her snapping at him or making demands, she was a bossy lady to begin with but now she was just impossible, Elfman truly was a man for taking it all with a smile. Alzack was a great dad and Asuka was great girl. And Gildarts was... flighty, he didn't even know he had a daughter until his daughter was already a grown woman and though he made an effort he was rarely ever present.

Alzack was the best option, he wouldn't pry and he'd be honest.

Nodding his head, he stood up, leaving the milkshake untouched and made his way to Alzack, Asuka now having gone with Wendy and Romeo.

"Evening Alzack." He greeted taking a seat opposite the gunslinger.

"Natsu." Alzack looked around and annoyingly he knew the man was looking for Lucy. "No Lucy?"

"At home, listen I wanted to ask you something, it's kind of personal though." Natsu shifted awkwardly in his seat and leant forwards, catching on, Alzack did the same.

"What can I help you with?" Natsu took a moment to think of a suitable question that wouldn't give his and Lucy's predicament away.

"You're good with Asuka, is it as easy as you make it look?"

Alzack looked slightly taken aback by the question, probably not expecting this kind of question from him at all, Natsu tried to act natural but that got difficult when Alzack cocked an eyebrow in suspicion.

"We were lucky with Asuka, she's always been a good girl making it easy for us but that doesn't mean it's always easy, all of a sudden you're world revolves around this one person, you have new responsibilities, you do everything you can to make them happy, to make sure their safe and healthy."

"What was it like when Bisca was... pregnant? How did you feel then?"

"When Bisca was pregnant I was terrified but so was she but at the same time we were excited, it helped that we had lots of support from our friends and we got ourselves prepared so towards the end we were a little less scared and the moment our little girl was born all fears just sort of went away."

"Was it easier after that?" Natsu asked completely rapt. Alzack laughed.

"No, we were still new to it so even though we read books and taken advice we barely had a clue, she'd cry and we wouldn't know why, she'd fall ill and we'd panic, she'd get hurt and we'd worry, so many things we had no control over ... but I wouldn't trade a day of it for anything else, we love her." Alzack leant back, a soft smile on his face as he no doubt thought about his family. "The most important part was we weren't alone, we had each other and the rest of the guild."

Natsu leant back as well, allowing Alzack's words to sink in.

"Why the sudden interest?" Alzack asked. Natsu stiffened but he quickly plastered a smile on his face and tried to relax.

"Just curious." Alzack narrowed his eyes but he said nothing more, just nodded his head as if he understood and instantly Natsu knew that he suspected.

"Personal right?"

"Yeah."

"I won't say a word." Alzack stood up and patted Natsu on the shoulder.

"...thanks." Natsu muttered, the older man smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement before heading over to his wife.

Natsu wasn't usually one to let things worry him, normally he didn't think about things long enough to get to that point but right now he was worried. Lucy was carrying his child and although the idea thrilled him he realised he was a little scared.

He didn't want to mess up.

But first he needed to get Lucy to forgive him.

Someone sat opposite him and he lazily peeked an eye open, Gray was casually sprawled in the recently vacated seat looking bored. As usual he was missing his shirt and Natsu didn't need to look under the table to know he was also missing his trousers.

"You're quiet," Gray pointed out, "didn't even realise you were in the guild."

"It's been known to happen." He muttered, chucking a scowl the ice makers way.

"Ah... I get it Lucy's mad at you again." He leant forward and challenging grin on his face. Natsu jolted, guilty, and looked away refusing to rise to Gray's bait. "What did you do this time?"

"N-nothing, she's not mad alright."

"I call bullshit, come on, how long have we known each other now, the only time you look 'pensive' is when you're trying to figure out a way to earn Lucy's forgiveness."

Damn ice princess, was he that obvious? He sealed his lips shut and refused to answer though it probably only just gave him away.

"Ok, ok, you don't want to talk about it but how's Lucy doing?" Gray asked instead.

"Huh?" What did Gray know?

"She's been feeling off the last few weeks since that mission," He prompted, "was there any development?"

"Oh..." Natsu visibly relaxed. "She went to the doctors today since it started to affect her magic."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Don't be such a dumbass!" Gray snapped. "What did the doctor say?"

Natsu opened his mouth to tell him only to stop short once he realised he was going to tell him the truth, just like that, sure Gray annoyed the hell out of him and every time he was forced to look at his face he just wanted to punch it but Gray also happened to be one of his closest friends and allies.

He could tell Gray, he trusted Gray enough for that at least, and it would be a relief for someone to know, Gray was, on the surface a cold person, but he was trustworthy and his honest opinions despite being brutal were refreshing.

"Let's go to the river." Natsu stood up and Gray arched a brow in suspicion. The river is where they spent a lot of their childhood fighting each other, if Natsu was going to tell Gray something life altering like him and Lucy having a baby then it seemed fitting. And at least there they wouldn't get overheard.

"What want me to remind you whose the stronger one cause I could pummel you into dust right here in front of everyone." Natsu's brow twitched, his irritation simmering.

"As if, it's obvious I'm the stronger one!" He took a deep breath and shook his head, clearing the red haze. "I'm not challenging you to a fight right now so are you coming or not." He turned and started walking away and after a muttered insult Gray stood up and followed.

They walked in relative silence, the atmosphere somewhat awkward, Natsu could see from the corner of his eye that Gray kept glancing at him with narrowed eyes but Natsu chose to ignore it and continued to lead the way.

Even he could act mature at times.

They slid down the bank, hands in pocket, like they'd done this a thousand times before, and walked right up to the river's edge, nostalgia making him chuckle, him and Gray hadn't been here since they were kids but nothing much had really changed, especially between them.

Natsu sat, and Gray, after some internal debate, followed suit but with a comfortable distance between them. For a long moment Natsu didn't say anything, just watched the river, he could sense Gray growing impatient, throwing him irritated looks every now and then much to Natsu's amusement.

"Why are we here..." Gray trailed off and paled. "You're not going to confess to me or something cause dude I don't –"

"Shut up, who the hell would want to confess to you, you perverted ice freak!" Natsu took another deep breath, wishing Gray didn't rile him up as much as he did. "It's about Lucy." This grabbed Gray's attention, he turned his body to face Natsu, the sternness in Natsu's voice must have prompted him to take him seriously.

"What about Lucy? The doctor's... was it something bad?"

Was it something bad? He didn't think it was but Lucy's reaction wasn't a desired one, maybe she didn't want his kid. Could that be why she's so upset?

"Lucy's... pregnant." The silence that fell between them was heavy and stilted, gray's eyes were wide with shock, his mouth hanging open as he gaped at Natsu with an expression of utter surprise mingled with disbelief. Eventually he broke the silence...

"Shut up!" He jumped up and pointed down at Natsu while he fumed. "You gotta be kidding me, you and Lucy having a baby... no, it's a joke right?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Natsu looked up, angry, why was it so hard to believe he'd have a family with the girl he loved?

"You're being serious... don't you think you guys are rushing it a bit, you've only been dating for six months." He kneeled back down on the floor and Natsu glanced away, a sheepish and guilty look on his face.

"It was kind of an accident, a rubber broke a few weeks back, probably happened then."

"Damn... no wonder Lucy's mad, having to carry around your child for the next nine months." Gray went back to watching the river so he missed the dark look Natsu threw his way.

"What's so wrong with me?" He growled.

"You're hot-headed, destructive, impatient, immature, an idiot and..." He looked over at Natsu the latter now weighed down by a depressive aura. "Should I go on?"

"Please don't." Natsu muttered under his breath. "Would I really be a crappy dad?"

"I never said anything about being a crappy dad, you're good with kids since you can relate to them and with Lucy around... well you're less off what I mentioned before, she has that calming effect on you that turns you into a decent human being."

"Are you trying to start a fight?" Natsu threw Gray a dirty look but quickly deflated not really in the mood to fight. Gray rolled his eyes.

"See hot-headed... but that won't ever change... look I sense you're looking for some kind of confirmation but nobody knows if they're going to be good dad until the time comes, at the end of the day if you love your kid and take care of Lucy, what could go wrong?" Natsu remained silent. "Lucy's going to need all the support she can get, especially if she wasn't prepared for this, you need to stop acting like an idiot and man up, take responsibility or whatever..." He paused, and looked around them before moving closer to Natsu and in hushed voice he continued. "I will seriously kick your arse if you ever tell anyone I said this but I don't think you've got anything to worry, despite all those things I said about you you're also loyal, dependable and not such a bad guy... argh I feel gross just for saying it, just cheer up already will you." He finished off by slapping Natsu's back which might have been meant as a gesture of good will.

Natsu turned to Gray with a grin, he reached over and patted his shoulder.

"Is the part where... you confess your love to me?" He cackled when Gray blanched, flinching away from him in obvious disgust.

"Over my dead body."

"But you were saying such mushy stuff, kind of gave me the shivers actually." On cue he shivered but he continued to laugh, out of relief more than anything else.

"You're an idiot." He shook his head but otherwise grinned. "Look after Lucy, she'll need you now more than ever."

"I know that." He took into account what he had told Lucy earlier that day about being a team and getting through anything and he was right, as long as they stuck together and supported each they'd get through it, it wouldn't be easy sailing but they weren't alone and this kid would be loved.

That was enough for now.

They both sat back and watched the river rush by, enjoying a rare moment of calm between them, Natsu allowed his eyes to fall closed as he imagined it, his little family of four, him, Lucy, Happy and a small version of her or him, with his pink hair and her brown eyes. It looked so nice and he allowed himself to feel overjoyed and excited.

And then Gray spoke up.

"You wait until Erza finds out." Gray chuckled when Natsu experienced a full body shiver. The picture he'd painted of his little family vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced with a gruesome murder scene, his own murder scene, Erza standing over his dead body, his family jewels under her heavily armoured foot.

His arms gave out and he fell onto his back with a groan.

"I'm so dead." He muttered against the arm that covered his face.

Gray, amused, just nodded his head with what could be considered his patented version of a sympathetic look, Natsu just thought he looked smug... that bastard.


	8. Acceptance

**Thank you for the nice reviews and any grammar advice I get, since this is a hobby for me sometimes I can get careless though I do feel a bit silly that I missed out quite an obvious word confusion... I hadn't even noticed, whenever I do a proof read I end just reading he story and forgetting to actually check so I do tend to miss things so feel free to point it out and I'll avoid it in the future :)**

Lucy was an idiot, an emotionally driven idiot. Not long after she'd driven Natsu out in a fit of rage she regretted her actions; how childish she had behaved, even resorting to throwing things... _such an idiot._

She was supposed to be an adult, or at least from now she'd have to act like one but at the first opportunity she had thrown a tantrum and now Natsu was gone and she was all alone to drown in her thoughts.

Naturally she had every right to be angry over the broken condom and not telling her but she knew he had no malicious intent, she knew him well enough to know that he probably did forget to tell her.

Lucy uncurled herself from her foetal position and sat up, she eyed the window sadly, hoping he'd come back soon, it didn't normally take him long to come sneaking back in with his most apologetic grin and puppy dog expression that every time without fail would make her open her arms wide and embrace him.

This one-sided argument was different than the rest though. She smoothed a hand over her flat stomach and sighed, life had been created through one window of opportunity that Natsu had inadvertently opened and there was no going back... she sighed, it was ok to be mad at him but she shouldn't have pushed him away because she needed him here, she needed his stability and positive outlook.

Only he could make her look at this situation and think that it was ok.

One day they would have had children together, she was sure of it, they would have got married, found a nice house together where then they could then raise a couple of children...she chuckled to herself; her and Natsu never did conform to the norm. They could still have all that they just started in the wrong order.

She threw her legs over the side of the bed and stretched, she had to remain positive, Natsu would come back, he always did so until then she'd wait but in the meantime she could really go for a sandwich.

Her bare feet padded against the linoleum floor of her kitchen as she tittered back and forth, grabbing a various fillers and spreads from the pantry, she looked over her selection but then frowned, was she supposed to check the label of these things? Where there certain things she wasn't allowed to eat? Biting her lip, she dashed back into the living room and picked up the discarded pamphlet the doctor had given her. She flicked through as she wandered back into the kitchen and found a section on dietary restrictions.

All the things the doctor had mentioned were in here but it gave more examples. No pâté products, ok, she put those back, cold cured meats... ah that would probably be the pepperoni and salami... not cooked so best to avoid but ok if it has been frozen first for four days or cooked... she eyes the meats longingly but decided she wanted a quick fix sandwich so she tucked them back in the pantry. What next... Well pre-packed ham was ok... maybe... she picked up the store bought ham and looked over the packaging but sighed when she didn't see any food warnings, they should really say if this stuff is suitable for pregnant women.

In the end she settled for a cheese and ham sandwich with pickle and a smidgen of Natsu's hot sauce.

Until she got used to which foods to avoid and which were ok, meals were going to be chore and this was only the beginning.

She sat at the table, pamphlet to the side and after such a long time making the sandwich she was finally going to tuck in but just as she brought it to her mouth a fervent knocking at her door made her pause. With a mild sigh of irritation she put the sandwich down and went to answer the door.

Just as the put her hand on the doorknob she paused... what if it's Natsu? She had been really mad at him earlier so maybe he was using the door for a change. She debated for a moment on what to do, she wanted to see him but she'd spent so long making the sandwich that she hadn't thought about what she wanted to say to him when he did come back.

The knocking started up again and with a deep breath she opened the door. She blinked several times when instead of a pink head of hair she was greeted with a mass of wavy blue locks and the endearing smile of her bestfriend.

"Levy-chan?" The confusion was evident in her voice, she flinched slightly when she also heard a hint of disappointment.

"Don't look so disappointed, where you expecting someone else?" Levy smiled, tilting her head to side light-heartedly.

"I'm sorry, no not really I just thought that Natsu... it's nothing, come in." Lucy stepped back and waved Levy in. She stepped in and Lucy closed the door behind her. "You know I think you're the only friend I have that actually knocks." Lucy noted with a small laugh, Levy joined in but shook her head.

"Those guys..." Levy turned to Lucy with a gleam in her eye. "How's your new story coming along, I've really been looking forward to reading it." Given the circumstances Lucy hadn't really been in the writing mood. She looked over to her desk and smiled apologetically.

"I've been a bit distracted the last week and a bit so I haven't really had a chance but hopefully it will be ready soon."

"That's great..." Levy shifted nervously, her small hands wringing together as her eyes shifted all over the room. "I didn't really come here to ask about your novel though... is everything ok between you and Natsu?"

Lucy was taken aback by the sudden question; she floundered to answer while she wondered where her concern was coming from.

"Why would you... did he say something?" It was her turn to fidget, she thought this would end like any of their other arguments, he'd come back and all would be forgiven but for Levy to enquire then maybe Natsu was mad to and had said something. She bit her lip in worry.

"He didn't say much except you were upset and that you needed a friend to, perhaps talk to, I figured it was a falling out since he said you didn't want to talk to him at the moment... is everything ok?"

Natsu had sent Levy to keep her company, which meant he wasn't mad at her right? Even when she was so harsh to him he's still thinking about her, sometimes she felt as if she didn't deserve him.

"I... I don't really know if everything's ok." She muttered quietly. Levy took Lucy's hand and pulled her over to the sofa, she coaxed the blonde to sit and then followed suit, angling her body to face her.

"Lu-chan I'm here to listen so if you want to talk about it, you can rely on me." Lucy felt her eyes burn, the threat of tears, the corners of her mouth quivered as she tried to keep herself composed but she was just so touched that she had friends like Levy and then there was Natsu that still cared about her despite her childish tantrums.

"There was an accident and I lost my temper, I was just so mad I told Natsu I didn't want to hear or see him and I'm scared he won't come back, I was so horrible and I'm a terrible girlfriend." And now she was crying. Levy waved her hands in alarm before settling them on Lucy's shoulder.

"Don't be silly, you know Natsu can never stay away from you very long... remember those solo mission you tried to do and he just followed you wherever you went, and all the times he tried to follow you into the toilets... the boy's hopelessly in love with you so don't worry I guarantee by the end of the night he'll be walking in like nothing happened."

"Yeah?"

"Yep!" Levy's warm smile eased some of the tension in Lucy body and she relaxed, sniffing back the tears and even managing a smile. "But out of curiosity what kind of accident did Natsu cause to make you so mad?" She pondered. "Must have been big."

"Ah..." Lucy began to panic slightly, wondering whether she should let Levy in on the news or wait until she was ready, having someone outside of her relationship with Natsu she could talk to would be nice but saying it, confessing it to someone on the outside just made it seem more real. She shifted her eyes away from Levy's which was enough to the make the petite woman draw her brows together in suspicion.

"If it's not something you can tell me, it's ok don't force yourself."

"It's not because I don't trust you," she quickly reassured, "it's just not easy to say." Lucy's gaze flicked to the kitchen. "Oh how about I make us some tea." Lucy jumped up, happy for the distraction, and a thoroughly bemused Levy followed. Lucy knew she was acting suspicious, never very good under pressure, she really wanted to tell Levy but she was scared of her reaction.

What if she was disappointed in her?

Lucy spotted her forgotten sandwich and her mouth watered at the reminder of her hunger, she snagged the plate and took it to the counter where she began preparing the kettle. Pouring in the water she placed it on the stove and lit the hob. When she turned to face Levy her stomach dropped to her feet and that faint feeling from earlier returned.

"Lu-chan...?" Levy slowly looked up at Lucy, her eyes wide with shock. In her hand was the pregnancy booklet Lucy had been looking through earlier, one she'd stupidly left out in the open not expecting company.

"I... that is to say... It's not what you think..." Though it probably is.

"So you're not... and you just happen to have a pregnancy booklet lying around because?"

Lucy's balled her fists at her side, gaze riveted to the floor, she didn't want to lie, she couldn't lie to Levy, she had to tell her the truth.

"It's exactly what you think, Levy-chan... I'm pregnant." She refused to meet Levy eyes, afraid of what she'd see. She heard the booklet hit the floor with a slap and suddenly arms were wrapped around her, dumbfounded she finally looked away from the ground to see Levy hugging her. Before anymore could be said the kettle started to whistle on the stove and they had to pull apart so that Lucy could take it off.

Silently she poured them each a mug and when she turned back with offered tea, she was surprised to see Levy's cheeks puffed up and eyes twinkling, she looked as if she was desperately trying to hold herself back.

"You have questions?" Lucy placed the mugs down on the coasters on the table and took a seat, eagerly Levy took her seat and continued to stare at her with an overly curious and oddly excited expression. "Go on, ask." Lucy coaxed.

"When did you find out?" She leant across the table, her eyes still sparkling with interest.

"Today, we went to the doctors, though I kind of suspected for a couple of days now... I was in denial I think."

"How did it happen?"

"Well when a man loves a woman very much..."

"Lu-chan! Stop teasing, you know what I mean." Levy pouted while sending mock glares her way, Lucy found herself laughing.

"Ok, Ok, Natsu told me today that the protection we used had broken one time, so I guess that was how." She explained, Levy sat back and nodded her head.

"I can see why you got mad; I assumed that was the accident you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah."

"And he only told you today?"

"He forgot to bring it up at the time."

"That does sound like Natsu, he really should use his head." Levy scolded half-heartedly. Lucy just laughed again.

"Well given the circumstances we were in he stops thinking with his head." Lucy said without much thought but when she was confronted with Levy's glowing face her own face heated and she hid behind her hands. "I didn't mean to say that."

"I-It's ok, guys do tend to start thinking with other parts of their anatomy."

They burst out laughing, embarrassment mingled with relief. The situation was absurd, sitting at her table talking about her surprise pregnancy, how it suddenly turned to talking about their significant other's ability to think straight during sex was beyond her.

"Do you know how far along you are?" Levy asked after she calmed down. Lucy shook her head.

"I'm meeting my midwife next week I think so maybe they can give me an estimated time, from what Natsu told me about the condom incident I'd guess three or four weeks, I had my last period like normal so some time after that." Lucy tapped her chin as she looked up thoughtfully. "Though I did only start feeling ill last week." Along with everything else.

"Ah I'm so thrilled for you two, who would believe Natsu would become a daddy, everyone was so shocked when Elfman announced Ever's pregnancy, imagine their reactions when you guys tell them." It would be comical, a lot of people probably wouldn't believe it.

"You don't think it's too soon?" Lucy asked, she stirred her tea absent-mindedly, her lips pursed in worry. Levy watched Lucy for a moment before thinking about it.

"Who can say, sure you and Natsu haven't been dating all that long but you guys have known each for such a long time now, you guys boast one of the strongest bonds in the guild, the trust you share in each other and not to mention the love... you're scared, I can see that but you're not alone, you never were."

No, Lucy wasn't alone, she'd been so blinded with fear that she'd forgotten that, she knew everyone would support them, even be happy for them, after they got over the shock of course, she chuckled, yeah Levy was right and so was Natsu.

"And if I don't make a good mum?" She mumbled. Levy actually looked shocked with disbelief.

"Nonsense! You'd make a great mum, I mean look at the experience you've gained from looking after your team mates, Gray's stripping habit, his and Natsu's brawls, Erza's temperament and naivety, and Natsu's... well Natsu, and let's not forget Happy, if you're capable of keeping them in line then how could you possibly not be able to look after an actual child." When Lucy didn't respond she smiled softly and took the blonde's hand in hers. "Lu-chan your heart is so full of love for everyone that no matter what they'll always be room for a new addition."

"Do you think Natsu's ready for something like this?"

"Do you even need to ask... Natsu can be many things but above all else he's reliable, fiercely protective and tremendously loyal, to his friends, to you... this baby will be the most loved and cherished and most ridiculously protected baby ever. He or she will be happy."

She was sure it, she was going to cry again, every fear she had, every worry, evaporated into the wind and she felt confident again, Levy was right, if she could put up with the childish antics of her teammates then this child would be a walk in the park.

Since finding out the truth she felt as if she could finally accept this child growing inside of her as a blessing rather than a mistake, sure it was an accident but no child should ever be made to feel like they were a mistake. Oh how thoughtless she had been.

This was a part of her and a part of Natsu, how could she not have accepted that?

She felt hot streams of tears drip down her face but she wore the most dazzling smile to contradict them, she could do this!

"Lu-chan?" Levy's grip tightened on Lucy's hand, reassuring her.

"Thank you Levy-chan... thank you."

Natsu probably didn't even realise how much he'd done by sending Levy her way but when he came home she'd tell him how much she loved him and how grateful she was to have him in her life, to have all her friends in her life.

**Um as a warning I suppose, there is a long ass lemon in the next chapter because once it started it just wouldn't stop... **


	9. Reconciliation

**Ok so here it is, all in Natsu's POV... enjoy ^^**

_Damn that ice freak, _Natsu rubbed the back of his head where he could feel a lump forming, wincing slightly when he brushed over it too roughly. Well, whatever, he gave as good as he got, Gray didn't go home unscathed either.

After their talk, one of them had proposed a duel – by this point he couldn't really remember who – for old time's sake since it had been so long since they'd been down to the river. The level of skill and power had certainly changed since they were kids and they ended up fighting until well past midnight and both reluctantly decided it was a draw.

Clearly he had been winning otherwise Gray wouldn't have reminded him about Lucy, only Lucy could stop him fighting and the bastard took advantage of it, not that he really minded, he really did want to get back to her.

She probably still hadn't forgiven him but the idea of going back to his little hut in the forest and spending the night without her didn't sit right with him. By this point of the night she'd be asleep; he could easily sneak in and sleep with her before getting kicked out in the morning.

He came to a stop outside her apartment, his eyes widening when he saw her window wide open, normally she had it closed but unlocked complaining about it getting too cold. He smiled to himself, well, he guessed he could take that as an invitation.

He scaled up the side of the building and hooked an arm over the windowsill, he looked in to see her huddled figure in the bed wrapped up tightly in the blankets, her slow and even breaths letting him know she was fast asleep.

He climbed the rest of the way in and gently closed the window, looking over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't woken her, she stirred but he let out of breath of relief when she settled back down. He jumped off the sill and over the bed, landing silently on the carpeted floor.

He took in a deep breath through his nose, inhaling her scent, her unique smell was something he always missed when he spent long periods of time away from her, but now his lips twitched into a smile when he recognized the additional scent, their child.

After his talk with both Alzack and Gray he felt giddy with excitement, though it had been an accident he really couldn't find it in him to feel all that sorry. Not telling her about the ripped rubber he could definitely apologize for, but not for creating a new life, he chuckled, a new nakama for them.

He unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and drapped it over the back of her writing chair, he grabbed his t-shirt by the collar and pulled it over his head, dropping it to the floor with little care before heading into the bathroom, the curtain separating the two rooms flapped shut behind him noiselessly.

He cursed Gray again when he saw the state of his face, a bruise under his left eye and another under his chin from a stray uppercut he's failed to block in time. He ghosted a hand over the bruise flowering over his ribs and shook his head, it's not like Gray was in any better shape. He turned the tap on and cupped his hands under the flow filling his palms to the rim before lowering his head over the sink and splashing his face.

With one of Lucy's hand towels he scrubbed his face until the grime of fighting outside was gone, cleaned up, the bruises didn't look so bad and he looked somewhat decent again. He quickly brushed his teeth and used the toilet before peeking back into the main room to find Lucy still huddled up facing the window.

He crept towards the bed and looked over her before slowly sliding in next to her. He rested on his side, very gently placed his arm across her form and tucked himself close to her back. He shamelessly buried his face into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply before relaxing against her completely.

In the morning he was sure she'd kick the seven shades of hell out of him but for now he'd enjoy the moment.

"You came back..." Her hushed voice made him stiffen, shit he woke her up. He immediately retracted his arm and sat up but was quickly stopped when she flipped over and pressed her body firmly against his, keeping him in place.

"Uh... yeah, I didn't mean to wake you, I can leave if you want me to I just... I just wanted to see you." She was looking up at him with an unreadable expression, her lower lip tucked between her teeth, right now was not the moment but he couldn't stop himself from glancing down at her chest which was flattened against his, he could just about make out the flimsy night gown she was wearing, a particular favourite of his he noted inanely.

Instantly he could feel himself reacting, Lucy just had that kind of power over him and right now he was cursing his weakness. Lucy still had to be mad at him.

She didn't say anything, just pushed up and pressed her mouth against his.

Was she still mad at him?

When her tongue poked out and ran along his lower lip he groaned and gave in, parting his lips and meeting hers with his own.

This would be the only time he would admit that he was a weak man.

This kiss was deep, Lucy keeping it at a slow and languid pace that was torture and pleasure at the same time, at the same time she began to run her hands up his chest, her soft _soft_ hands driving him insane but he held back sensing her need to take this slow, he wasn't about to push his luck.

His own hands, which wanted to touch everything, found their way up, one buried itself in her silky locks while the other gently cradled the back of her neck his thumb brushing circles across her cheek. She sighed against his mouth and a shudder rippled through her body making his own tremble with need.

Softly she pulled away and he forced his eyes open to meet her chocolate eyes, he couldn't see any hate and any of the rage he saw in them earlier was gone, instead it was replaced with a tenderness he knew well, relief and definitely a look he recognised – and come to love very much – want.

"I couldn't sleep, I was so scared you wouldn't come back." She murmured. He had made her worry but he hadn't expected her to forgive him so quickly so he thought giving her time was what she needed instead he wasted time brawling with that freakin' stripper.

"Luce, I'm sorry I..."

"Shh, we'll talk about it in the morning but for now could you just..." Her face darkened into an attractive shade of red and she started nibbling on her lip again. With a light growl he bent down and sucked her lower lip between his and kissed it tenderly. Her shuddered breath fanned over his face and he brushed a hand down her body to rest it on the small of her back. "...hold me."

He hadn't expected – hoped, like any hot blooded male with an attractive woman but not expected – the evening to turn out like this when he'd snuck in but he wasn't one to turn down such an inviting offer, especially since every inch of him cried out to 'hold her' just like she asked.

He pulled her up and planted his lips over hers swallowing her gasp and brushing over her exposed tongue with his. She shifted over him, her legs coming to rest on either side of his hips, the new position pressed their nether regions together intimately and he groaned when she ground her body against his.

She really knew how to drive him insane.

He lowered his hands all the way down her back and over her backside where he rested them and squeezed gently – he always did have a particular fondness for her rear – subtly he coaxed her movement, rocking her back and forth against him to shamelessly relieving his own building ache.

"Natsu..." She hummed against his mouth, she broke away only to press feather-light kisses along his jaw, she paused over what he suspected was the bruise under her chin and she very softly kissed it before moving down to suck gently on the skin of his collar bone, no doubt leaving a little dark mark which he'd wear with pride.

This softness wasn't unfamiliar to him, they had 'made love' as Lucy liked to call it, plenty of times, though he liked rough and passionate this slow, methodical pace drove him to the brink of madness just as easily, especially when she slowly rolled her hips against him and her body brushed against the bare skin of his torso. The soft silk material of her nightgown felt good on him but her soft and pliable skin felt so much better.

But taking the nightgown off of her was part of the fun.

He flipped them over so that she was on her back, her eyes shot open in surprise and her lips parted as she gasped, her hair fanned over the pillow under her head and he couldn't help but stare down at her, she was just so god damn angelic.

Before her he never really took the time to look at girls, he recognised that they were pretty but it never affected him like it did some of other men, maybe because he was surrounded by the same girls all the time and to him they more like siblings than anything else and even when Lucy came along he recognised her looks as pretty and cute but he didn't think much else except that she was a nice person.

It was her determination and desire to join Fairy Tail that had peeked his interest at the time.

Who knew the girl he met by chance in Hargeon would become everything he cared about and the mother of his child.

As they grew closer though he started to see her differently, it was slow, he never once questioned why he felt so protective of her or why he liked being near her and at the time he had far more important things on his mind, like finding Igneel and getting stronger, but since Igneel came back his attentions refocused and for the first time he really looked at her and realised she was spectacular.

Beautiful, warm, soft, selfless, kind... she was a damned angel and now he knew why he had always been so eager to keep her at his side.

So when she confessed, in the heat of an argument he'd been shocked into silence, not expecting her to feel like that about him but then he blinked and she was gone, red face an all. It had taken him all week to pin her down by which point he was irritated and annoyed as hell, she'd dropped the bomb shell of her feelings and hadn't even given him a chance to respond, she just made stupid assumptions and made things awkward by running away.

They only way he could shut her up and let him talk was to kiss her.

It had been their first kiss, at the time he had cursed his inexperience, not really knowing if he had been doing it right and when she didn't respond, for the very first time he felt self-conscious. When he did pull away her face was burning red and her eyes wide with shock but he saw a flicker of hope in them that urged him to tell her everything so he rambled on like an idiot until she was smiling again.

And now here he was, feeling like the luckiest son of a bitch as he admired his girl, the same girl that was smiling up at him serenely while stroking his face with the palm of her hand.

"I love you." Her cheeks lit up a light pink after the words left her mouth but he grinned down at her and instead of answering her he leant down and kissed her.

She arched up, pressing her body into his, her arms reaching up to lock around his neck. He held up his body, forearms resting on either side of her head, caging her in, so that he didn't crush her, he shifted, supporting himself on one arm so that he could run a hand down the curve of her body, he brushed the side of her breast, her body quivering from the light touch but he continued down to grip the thigh that was pressed against his hip. His body sat tucked perfectly between her parted legs and her hips were doing that thing that almost broke his control but he held back, wanting to take his time to enjoy her.

Slowly, torturously slow, he ran his hand up her thigh and under her dress, he got to her hip before he realised with a start that she wasn't wearing any panties. He grinned against her mouth.

Oh... maybe he should have come back sooner rather than wasting time with Gray.

No one would ever believe that his bashful and reserved Lucy was actually a little vixen behind closed doors.

Did he mention he was lucky?

"Lucy don't tell me you had naughty intentions." He lifted up a little to look at her face only for her to look away, face flushed with embarrassed, once again she was worrying her lower lip and he growled. "Stop biting your lip, Lucy, you know what it does to me." Her eyes snapped back to his with glimmer of playfulness.

"Make me."

A challenge, like waving a red flag in front of a bull, and like always he rose to the challenge by slipping his hand between their bodies and swiftly stroking over her sensitive bundle of nerves, earning a shocked gasp from the blonde, her lips falling open as a sweet moan followed, he took advantage of the moment and dipped his head down to capture her lower lip between his, he brushed his tongue over the abused lip and followed up with a deep kiss.

As he made love to her mouth with his tongue he continued his ministration between their bodies, his fingers stroking away, dragging little whimpers and hoarse moans from Lucy. Her hips were moving to the pace of his fingers, building friction and the moment she started moving that little bit faster he knew she was close.

With every roll she murmured his name like a mantra, over and over, he loved the sound of his name when Lucy said it and he especially loved it when she was all breathless because of him, proud that he was capable of reducing her to this.

Her thighs were growing taut against him, her body stuttering telling him she was close, he rose up so that he could watch her come undone, her head lolled backwards, her mouth hung open as short pants and gasps broke free until her entire body shuddered, her back arched off the bed and her a long drawn out moan fell loose.

This was one of his favourite moments, watching her succumb helplessly to the mind numbing orgasm he brought about, and that was just with his fingers. She writhed a lot more when he used his mouth and when they were joined it was something else.

He let her come down from her high before nuzzling the side of her neck, his breath tickling over her skin urging her to giggle.

"You ok Lucy?"

"Hmm." She breathed.

"Good cause we're not done yet." He moved down her body, she attempted to draw her legs together but he growled in protest and pushed them apart keeping them flat against the bed so that she was completely exposed to him. The scent of her arousal was overwhelming and he wanted nothing more than to tuck in but he wasn't sure he could hold out for much longer.

He kissed the inside of her thigh, mimicking the action with the other, he kissed and licked his way up, over her mound whilst pushing her dress up her body, she was twitching, the soft kisses tickling her overly sensitive body. He kissed one hip and trailed his lips along the dip of her pelvis before pecking the other side; he made his back to the middle where he paused. Right here, was where his baby was growing, his and Lucy's baby, he couldn't have stopped the grin even if he had wanted to. He nuzzled the area with his nose and kissed it softly before continuing his path up as he removed her dress inch by inch.

Every bit of exposed skin he showered with light kisses and tender nips until he reached the underside of her breasts, he pulled the dress up completely exposing her chest to him, her large mounds bouncing from the movement and her dusty pink nipples were puckered up in arousal, just begging for his attention.

When he wrapped his lips around her left peak her body shook beneath him and a broken gasp fell from her parted lips, she had one arm up and covering her red face while the other buried itself into the hair at the back of his head, pressing him closer to her sensitive breasts.

Quite early on he had discovered that her chest was a particular weak spot of Lucy's, one of his first discoveries, he later learnt that he could also make her weak at the knees by kisses to the skin behind her ears, the insides of her wrists and her calves.

Her reactions were always the best.

With every slow lick and gentle suckle her body grew more desperate, writhing and grinding against him eagerly pushing her chest further into his mouth. He was in a shit state himself, his own need building with every brush of her naked body against his, if he didn't act soon he'd come before he got the chance to be inside her.

Reluctantly he released her abused nipple with a pop and kissed the other tenderly, his hands snaked up to remove the dress completely, Lucy helping by sitting up. He struggled with his pants, the belt buckle working against him as he struggled through his haze of lust to take the darn thing off.

Lucy was still moving against him and he could barely think straight... shit... he lit his hand on fire and burnt through the leather material and was surprised by the sound of pleasure that tore through Lucy when the fire ghosted her skin, her body was quivering with need.

Fire play was ruled out of bedroom activities due to Lucy's fear of Natsu setting her bed on fire so he'd never used it while they were going at it, there were times he had to keep a tight leash on it because of the sheer force of his release and he wondered if it had direct link to his magic or something because sometimes he almost felt like he could burst into flames.

Given her reaction to the heat of his flames he wasn't opposed to persuading her one day to play with his fire... Lucy and fire, now that was a delicious thought.

He shoved his pants and boxers down nudging them off until he was kicking them to the end of the bed and all it took was one innocent brush of her labia against his erection for him to grit his teeth and hold back his impending release.

Oh man... he really couldn't hold back.

"Luce... need to be inside you... like now." He grunted.

She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him flush against her, the head of his erection prodding her entrance but he quickly reeled back when he realised he wasn't wearing a condom. "Wait Lucy, we need..."

"No we don't... I don't think we'll be needing those for a while."

Oh right... so they were going commando from now on, that's cool, not like he hadn't been looking forward to trying that out one day, he'd over heard that sex with no barriers felt so much better... well he was about to find out if that was true and if it was he wouldn't last five seconds.

He gulped, suddenly feeling quite nervous, he grasped his dick and pushed into her, groaning as her walls clenched around almost instantly, it was through sheer will power he didn't come straight away. This was definitely different, he could feel so much more without a thin layer of material in the way, the wet heat encompassing him, the slight friction the lubricated condom prevented... so freaking good.

"It feels so good." Lucy murmured, sounding as awed as he felt. And that was another thing, like this he felt so much closer to her, their bodies fully connected, skin to skin, with nothing to separate them.

But it felt too darn good, meaning that this would be swift and quick. He angled his hips and Lucy moved to adjust to him, her body working from instinct and memory, and then he pulled out, sweet Edolas that friction was adding fuel to the fire. He thrust in, filling her completely. Her answering cry told him he'd hit the spot, with a smug grin he repeated the motion, slowly building up a rhythm until they were moving against each other in synchronization.

With every thrust she cried out and he grunted, her hands clawing at his back while he clutched on to her like a lifeline, scared he'd pass out from the overload of sensations.

They'd done this a hundred times before but every time felt like the first, it never got old and he would never grow tired of this body, her taste, her smell, the feel of her supple yet at the same time firm skin, the way her eyes watched him though heavy lids and the way she could move to his pace, not matter what she could always keep up, always ready and wanting.

"Oh Gods..." Lucy quickened the pace of her hips throwing them off sync but it was all worth it to see her completely fall apart beneath him, her cries being enough to bring about his own release. With one hard thrust he sunk completely into her, his roar of satisfaction so loud it probably disturbed the neighbours, but as if he cared.

It was a full body orgasm and the moment he released inside her he lost all energy and dropped against her heaving body, no longer able to hold himself up. He was probably squashing her but before he could roll off she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders, pressing the side of face against her chest, well if she didn't mind then he'd stay there a little bit longer.

He rested his head against her chest and listened to the pounding of her heart until it eventually slowed to a steady beat that began to lull him into sleep.

"Am I squashing you?" He asked, his voice slurred from exhaustion.

"No... let's just stay like this." She brought a hand up and stroked the back of his head, the action making him even drowsier. "Natsu?"

"Hmm."

"I'm sorry for how I..."

"You got nothing to be sorry about, I should have told you sooner so you had every right to be mad at me."

"...then thank you." She said instead, he could hear the smile forming on her lips.

"For what?"

"For being by my side, I promised myself that I would tell you how grateful I am for having you with me."

"Dummy you don't have to thank me for that, there's nothing to it, I suppose I should be happy you're willing to put up with me." Her chest shook as she laughed.

"Nothing to it." He smiled against her skin, tightening his hold. "About the baby... I... it's ok."

He lifted his head, his eyes opening up to look at her but she was looking up at the ceiling, a small smile on her still flushed face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean if we're together how hard could it be... but don't get me wrong though I'm still terrified." She clarified

"Well I'm looking forward to it... it'll be fun I think." He dropped his head back down to her chest, a grin so wide that it hurt broke out on his face.

"Yeah." And he could just hear the bright smile on her face to match his.

This was his joy, right here in his grasp.


	10. Happy

Lucy was floating on a cloud of euphoric bliss as she tittered around her kitchen preparing breakfast, after her chat with Levy and her reconciliation with Natsu she was feeling positive. For once she woke without her nausea and was able to enjoy a restful morning cuddled up with Natsu.

Currently he was still passed out in her bed but she was sure the moment she put the bacon on, his nose would drag him in.

She glanced at the time and decided it was probably time to open the window, since it was a Saturday she was preparing a big breakfast which had become a bit of a tradition in her home and that normally included Happy who could never pass up grilled fish.

Lucy stepped back into the main room and glanced over at Natsu who was still snoring away quite happily, stretched out across her bed with a dorky grin on his face, she smiled endearingly before glancing down.

With a bright red face she picked the covers up off the floor where he'd kick them to and threw it over his exposed body, he gargled something unintelligible but otherwise remained asleep.

With a light hearted sigh she reached over and swung the window open for Happy.

On her way back to the kitchen she stopped at her writing desk and looked at the items of clothing on her chair, she fingered Natsu's scarf letting the material slip over her hand to drop back down against the chair. At some point Natsu was going to have to tell Igneel about the baby, the great behemoth had once joked about the possible chance of grandkids before she and Natsu had even gotten together... she wondered what he would think about it now?

Whatever his reaction, she envisioned it would comical, despite one being a dragon and the other a human Igneel and Natsu were surprisingly similar.

By the time she was back in the kitchen she heard the familiar flap of wings in the other room and then giggled when she heard his little voice.

"Natsu you lazy butt." Natsu response was a sleepy grunt and the shuffling of covers before Happy cried out in disgust and came flying into the kitchen. "Lucy I saw Natsu's naked butt."

"Oh, how terrifying that must have been for you." She hid her smile behind a mask of concern – personally thinking Natsu had a very, _very_ nice behind – and placed a plate of grilled Kipper in front of Happy. "Hopefully this will make you feel better." Happy's face lit up in delight, his ear twitching as he prepared to pounce on his specially prepared breakfast.

His trauma obviously forgotten he picked up the fish and took a clean bite.

"Lucy really is the best." She smiled down at him and scratched him behind the ear before turning back to preparing the rest of the breakfast.

"Where were you last night anyway?" Lucy asked out of interest, as much as she loved the exceed she was mighty happy he hadn't been there last night.

"With Wendy and Charle, Natsu abandoned me to go hang out with Gray so I stayed with them at Fairy hills, you know I think Charle might accept a fish off me soon, it took her five seconds longer to say no this time."

"Really?" She sat down opposite Happy while she waited for her omelette to cook. "After so many years that's some progress... but I've been thinking and though I'm sure Charle would love your fish, she has a girls heart, next time why don't you try giving her some flowers, I'm sure she'd accept those." Lucy offered. Happy looked at her strangely, slowly chewing on his food as he thought it over.

"But Charle's a cat."

"Yes, yes but she likes girly things, I mean Lily likes kiwi's, so it's possible she prefers other things over fish." When he still didn't look convinced she changed tact. "She'll probably accept your fishes once you've wooed her with flowers."

"Really?"

"Probably, you never know unless you try."

"Ok... I'll try it." With a little nod of encouragement she got up to flip her omelette and that's when Natsu stumbled through the kitchen door, thankfully wearing some boxers. He scratched his belly and ruffled his hair, his mouth wide open as he yawned.

"I smell food." She figured, and she hadn't even started cooking the bacon yet.

"Sit down, it'll be ready soon."

Instead of sitting though he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands resting on her abdomen in a sweet gesture, she turned her head to look at him and she was met by a tender smile and eyes that glowed with happiness. He swept in for a kiss before letting go and sitting at the table next to Happy.

"Morning Happy."

"Natsu, I'm gonna get Charle some flowers so she'll fall in love with me."

"Ooh... that'll do it, Lucy loves that kind of stuff."

"Girls are weird."

"Tell me about it."

As Lucy listened to their banter she allowed herself a smile, the blissful atmosphere so different than the last few days, though she was still apprehensive about what would happen next she was willing to take a different approach and take whatever the future held head on.

Of course they'd eventually have to tell people, though Levy already knew, but she was hoping they could wait until she was ready, if they could keep their relationship under wraps then this should be easy.

"Thank you for sending Levy over yesterday, it's just what I needed." Lucy said over her shoulder. Natsu scratched the back of his head bashfully.

"Ah she told you... s'kay, didn't want you to be alone while you were so upset."

"She knows." Lucy heated a little oil in the pan and placed the bacon in, she placed a cover over the top to stop the oil spitting over everything.

"That's cool... Gray knows." She was surprised to hear he had confided in Gray, though he could be secretive when he needed to be and she, like Natsu, trusted him to keep it to himself until she was ready to announce it.

"Was that before or after you guys fought?" Natsu laughed, reclining in his chair, bringing attention to the large bruise over his ribcage.

"Before." He shrugged. "I was totally winning before he played his trump card."

"Hey guys," Natsu and Lucy looked over at the blue Exceed who was staring at each of them in turn with confusion written all over his face, "what is it that Gary and Levy know?"

Both adults blinked uselessly at Happy before realisation dawned on them both simultaneously. They hadn't told Happy!

How could they have forgotten Happy, a core member of their team and family?

"Ah well you see..." Natsu looked up at Lucy who shrugged, she quickly returned to the food, dishing it out while Natsu floundered with a way to explain it to Happy. She shook her head and rolled her eyes as he rambled on about something related to the birds and the bees and took pity. She placed his plate of food in front of Natsu and sat down with her own before addressing Happy.

"Natsu and I are having a baby."

Silence filled the room as Happy stared at her then at Natsu then back to Lucy, she grew a bit alarmed when he started to grin, recognising the teasing glint in his rounded eyes.

"Oooh... Kids these days." He chuckled, taking another bite of his fish. Lucy tried to ignore the heat that travelled up to engulf her face while Natsu just smirked away, digging into his own food heartily. "When's it going to hatch?" Happy asked, both adults looked over at the Exceed, confusion written all over their faces.

"Hatch...?" Lucy mumbled her eyes narrowing in confusion, she turned to look at Natsu with a suspicious glare.

"Happy hatched from an egg." Natsu explained, he was laughing, finding it all so very amusing.

"Please tell me you know how babies are born." She asked, suddenly feeling quite faint. Natsu stopped laughing and threw her an offended look.

"Of course I do!" He defended. Lucy sagged in relief and looked back over to Happy who was glancing between the two of them with the unreadable expression of his.

"Humans aren't hatched from eggs," Lucy explained, "they're born from... uh well, they grow in the mother's body where they're safe and protected and then when they're grown enough and ready to they'll be born."

"Natsu, you told be babies were hatched from eggs." The Exceed pointed at Natsu accusingly, a dusting of pink coated Natsu's cheek as he glanced back at Lucy.

"I know how babies are born!"He reiterated, and then turned back to Happy with an embarrassed scowl. "And Happy I told you that when we were kids as if I knew what I was talking about," he seemed to shudder, as if recalling a pretty sour memory, "Erza sure changed that." He sunk down and started eating again and Lucy couldn't help but laugh. She could just imagine how Erza cleared up that kind misconception.

She imagined it was difficult for him though, not having had any parents to teach him otherwise, his one experience of new life was the birth of Happy, when he hatched from his egg, and then there was the fact he was raised by a dragon, a race that also hatched from eggs. Erza probably took pity when the rest of the guild let him believe babies were hatched from eggs.

"Is that why Evergreen is so fat now?" Happy clapped his paws together at the new found discovery. Lucy's smile dropped and she glared at Happy with a mixture of annoyance and gloom.

"Oi, oi, Happy you can't say that," Natsu looked around the room as if the walls had ears, "Max said it once and Elfman had to stop her from turning Max to stone, so she broke his broom clean in half instead." He turned to look at Lucy. "It was pretty scary right Lucy... Oi! Why are you crying?!" He shot up and came to her side while she sniffled, the reason for her tears were completely irrational.

"I'm going to get fat too." She mumbled. Any concern Natsu's face held dropped almost immediately as he went back to his seat and continued to eat.

"But you're already fat though so it won't be a problem." Happy stated casually. Natsu grimaced, pausing in his eating long enough to shake his head at Happy with a pitiful look.

"Happy... no." He sighed.

Lucy on the other hand stared down the cat with a menacing glare; she was used to his jibes about her weight, though she knew he was only teasing.

"After I went to the trouble of cooking you up some fish you say mean things like that, you ungrateful cat." She snapped before quickly settling back down and taking a deep breath. This was supposed to be her stress-free day, so she couldn't let what Happy said get to her, after all he was only teasing.

Happy, unfazed by her behaviour, took on a pensive look, his eyes flicked between herself and Natsu before settling them back onto his fish.

"If... you guys are having a baby will you have less time for me?"

Both Lucy and Natsu stopped eating to look up at Happy in surprise, shocked that he would even think that. Happy... before she could say anything to reassure him Natsu reached forwards and flicked the Exceed right between the eyes.

"Idiot," Natsu scolded, "as if that would happen." Natsu went back to eating but continued to talk between mouthfuls. "You, me and Lucy are a family, not just a team, and with a baby it'll make four of us, a new member, doesn't that sound like fun."

Lucy watched the interaction between them with a soft smile, she hadn't thought that Happy would ever feel that way but to see Natsu comfort him like was like seeing a father with his son, she supposed in a way that was their relationship and seeing it before her eyes put her at ease, Natsu would make a good dad.

"Besides..." Lucy added. "They're going to need a big brother to rely on." She leant her elbows on the table and tucked her hands under her chin. Beside Happy, Natsu nodded in agreement, grinning stupidly around his mouthful of food. Happy's eyes widened, a sparkle of excitement filling them, he picked up his fish and took a huge bite.

"I can teach him everything I know about fish." He announced, the biggest grin stretching across his glowing face.

"Well..."

"Yeah and we can take him fishing with us." Natsu joined in on Happy's enthusiasm, both of them with equal twinkles of excitement in their eyes. She kind of wanted to protest, argue that it might be a girl who had little interest in the topic of fishing but who was she to rain on their parade. She smiled, sat back and tucked into her omelette.

Natsu and Happy continued to share ideas of what to show the baby while Lucy watched on happily that was until a knocking at her door interrupted them.

"I'll get it." Natsu went to stand but Lucy was already at his side pushing him down.

"Dressed like that I don't think so." It would be her luck that her landlady would answer the door and she would not be impressed with a semi nude man answering the door. She tightened her robe and walked through the main room to get to the hall.

Erza had her hand raised to knock again when Lucy swung the door open, behind her stood Gray, for a moment their eyes met and Gray nodded in acknowledgement, Natsu had told her that he told Gray about her pregnancy and judging by the way he was acting she was fairly sure Erza didn't know, she smiled and nodded back before refocusing her attention on Erza.

"Hey guys what are you doing here?" She looked at the door then back at them with a cocked up brow. "And using the door?"

"Gray suggested we tried it... I'm not sure how I feel about the waiting though."

"Haha... sorry we were in the middle of breakfast." She stepped to the side, inviting them with a gesture of her hand but she sighed heavily when Gray dropped his shirt at the entrance, picking it up, she closed the door. She shoved the shirt into his hands; at least he had the courtesy to look a little ashamed.

"Natsu," She wandered back into the kitchen and sat back at the table to finish off her breakfast, Natsu, having his back to the door didn't see Erza or Gray. "Erza and Gray are here." The forkful of food heading towards Natsu's mouth stilled, his face paling, he seemed to swallow nervously as he slowly turned to face Erza.

"E-Erza... what are you doing here?" He stuttered. Why did he look and sound so afraid? Maybe he did something at the guild yesterday, she wouldn't be surprised. The red head looked over Natsu for the longest moment, the atmosphere weighing down on all of them. That was until Erza's stomach gurgled, instantly breaking the tension.

"That smell good, Lucy, I don't suppose you have..."

"Yes, yes I made plenty help yourself." Brightening up Erza grabbed herself a plate and ravaged what was left on the counter while Gray just helped himself to a mug of coffee. Natsu on the other hand seemed to sink into his chair, the life leaving his relieved body. Gray took a seat at the end of the table and Natsu leant over.

"You didn't tell her?" He whispered, quiet enough so that Erza didn't hear but just enough that Lucy could make it out.

"Not worth the risk, she would have beat me just for knowing about it." Gray pulled a face after taking a sip of his dark and unsweetened coffee, absent-mindedly Lucy nudged a small jug of milk his way while Natsu pushed a pot of sugar. Gray looked at us both oddly before thanking them with a bemused expression. So that was why Natsu was nervous. He was scared of how Erza would take their news, it was true that Erza's reactions were sometimes off kilter but despite her tough demeanour she was a maiden on the inside; she was sure after whatever her over the top reaction would be she'd be happy for them.

"So what brings you guys over?" Lucy looked over to Erza who had now seated next to her, her plate full of food. Erza pulled out a sheet of paper and slammed it down on the table with more force than necessary, Lucy grimaced, worried about the condition of her table when she heard the ominous creak of wood.

"I have selected a mission for us; it's a fairly simple one." Lucy knew the definition of simple coming from Erza so she thought it best to look over the request sheet before agreeing to anything. She reached for the sheet only for it to be yanked out from underneath her hand.

"Natsu what-"

"No missions for you, remember."

Ah. Of course, for a moment she'd almost forgotten. In which case what was she supposed to do about money, as much as Natsu said he'd help pay her rent, which she was still displeased with, how was she supposed to support herself, no money meant no food, she was prepared to give up expenditures on clothing, if she was no longer doing missions then she wouldn't need to replace her destroyed clothes. One worry of her mind.

But, she'd need money for daily necessities and, when the time came, baby things, after all babies weren't cheap.

She'd need furniture, nappies, bottles, a baby bath, baby wash and wipes... not to mention baby clothes and that didn't even scratch the surface. She couldn't depend on Natsu to bring in that much money, he'd forever be going on missions.

"But..." She was going to reason that if they did some easy mission then maybe... but the look Natsu was giving her shut her up, he was dead set on not letting her do any at all.

"Forgive me but I feel as if I've missed something." Gray stiffened and looked away, while Natsu looked as if an internal battle raged. Lucy on the other hand huffed in irritation, what was so hard about telling Erza, she was a core member of their team and one of their closest friends, they'd told Gray and Happy, it wasn't fair to keep Erza in the dark.

"Lucy can't go on mission because she's not feeling well." Natsu finally said. Lucy narrowed her eyes at Natsu who purposefully avoided her gaze.

"Oh," Erza turned to Lucy, concern clouding her eyes which only made Lucy feel guilty. "I hadn't realised, I thought you said you'd recovered from whatever it was that bothered you on our last mission, forgive me for not noticing."

"Ah, it's nothing really, just the doctor said I should take easy so I've been told to avoid using magic and from doing anything strenuous." Lucy explained, not really a lie but it heavily omitted the truth.

"I see, will you be ok for rent?"

"I'm taking care of it." Natsu answered for her.

"It's nice to see that you've taken to the role of lover so well." Erza smiled calmly at Natsu while she praised him, Gray snorted into his coffee and Lucy had to hide her face, afraid of the sudden warmth on her cheeks. "Then Natsu will you be coming with us?"

"Damn right I will but... can we make it tomorrow, I kind of wanted to spend the day with Lucy and Happy."

Erza took a moment to think it over while she finished off her food, setting down her cutlery on the now empty plate she nodded her head and smiled.

"I had a few errands to run today anyway so the mission can wait." Erza stood, her armour clinking as she moved, Lucy just couldn't fathom how she could be comfortable in all that metal but then again Erza was on a completely different level then her. Years of carrying around all that armour made her strong and protected a vulnerable heart. "Thank you for the food Lucy, I'm going to head out and take care of some things... Gray are you coming?" She aimed at Gray when he remained seated.

"Ah... I leave soon but there's something I wanted to talk to Natsu about." Gray said, avoiding the red heads penetrative gaze.

"... Very well, I'll see you all later.' She got to the door before stopping and turning her stern gaze onto Natsu and Gray, who both shivered in alarm. "Natsu, Gray, we leave at 9 sharp in the morning, be at the train station on time." And with one last flick of her hair she was gone.

The door slammed closed before anyone said anything at all.

"So why are we keeping this from Erza, she's going get suspicious when I keep refusing requests?" Lucy eyed the two men who fidgeted in their chairs.

"She'll do horrible things to me Luce, especially if she finds out it was kind of an accident." Natsu whined, tucking his head into his folded arms to hide his face.

"Well I don't like it." Lucy got up and carried all the plates to the sink. "Erza is an important member of this team and it's not fair that you all know and she doesn't, she'll be more mad when she realises she the last to know."

"Lucy's got a point, flame for brains, Erza hates being left out of the loop." Gray pointed out. Natsu only continued to groan into the table. Lucy chose only to roll her eyes while she filled the sink with scolding water.

"Then you tell her Gray... while I'm far away." Natsu sat up straight and threw Gray a pleading look.

"Hell no," came his immediate response, "besides it's not my news to share." Which was true, it had to be either herself or Natsu and if she relied on Natsu then Erza would never know until Lucy was sporting a baby belly.

"Dear Mavis, you're a wuss sometimes," Lucy sighed, exasperated. "She's hardly going to kill you because of this, she'd at least know that I very much need you alive... but if it makes you feel better I'll tell her though I'm sure she'll be happy for us."

"Yes Lucy should tell her, she never beats up Lucy but could you wait until I'm on a mission or something." Natsu pleaded, his head lowered in subjection.

"Geez if she's going to beat you up she'll do it whenever you get back, might as well just get it over and done with." Gray reminded him. There was a look of amusement in his eyes that made Lucy believe he was enjoying Natsu's predicament to some level.

"Easy for you to say, it's not you balls on the line." Natsu snapped.

"So instead you'll put your pregnant girlfriend in the line of danger so that you can protect your 'manliness', not that you have much of that." Natsu sat back down and looked over at Lucy, conflict weighing heavily in his obsidian eyes. Lucy wanted to protest that they were being silly, Erza would never hurt her but Natsu looked as if he honestly believed she would.

"It's ridiculous, Erza is one of our closest friends, she'll be happy for us!" Lucy reiterated, getting slightly annoyed that they such little faith in Erza.

"I'm sure she will but Natsu was reckless and it was unplanned, she'll beat him on principle." Gray warned, not all that concerned he was making Natsu paler.

"You two get in to fights all the time around her despite knowing she'll beat you up for it so what is so hard about getting beat up about this?"

"This is a serious, life changing thing, she gives us a knock round the back of the head for rough housing in the guild, imagine would she'd do over something like this." Natsu shook all over but he remained defiant, that was until Lucy glared at him.

"Or is it because you're ashamed that I..." She didn't finish the thought, she turned back to the dishes and took a deep breath, so much for her stress free day. She heard the sound of a chair scrape across the floor, then the heavy slap of bare feet against her laminated flooring before she was roughly pulled around to face a livid looking Natsu.

"Ashamed of what?" He growled, his glare making her tremble. She shook her head not wanting to say because she knew it was stupid. "Lucy?"

"... Of me, that you're having a baby with me." She dropped her head against his shoulder and he remained frozen with shock. "Just ignore me I'm being stupid I know, it's just you're so dead set against telling Erza about this 'accident' that I just... It's silly."

"Damn right it is, what would make you think I'm ashamed, I'm just scared that Erza will rip my family jewels off and make me eat them... honestly, you weirdo, you are the only person I've ever dreamed of having a family with." He rested his chin against the top of her head and brought her in for a hug. "I didn't mean to make it sound like it was a mistake, I don't think that for a second, I want you and want this baby, like we told Happy, we'll be a family and that's what I really want."

"Sorry," Lucy muttered against his chest, her words slightly muffled but he seemed to understand. "I was just being irrational." From behind them Gray laughed, his own chair scraping across the floor as he stood.

"Irrational behaviour and mood swings are part of the territory when it comes to pregnant woman, you know, so good luck dude." He slapped Natsu on the back and looked over his shoulder at Lucy. "And for what it's worth congratulations, not that I'm looking forwards to having a mini Natsu running around the guild any time soon, but I am happy for you two." Lucy smiled up at him, relieved yet another person wasn't judging her but supporting them instead.

"Thanks Gray." She said. He nodded his head in acknowledgement before turning to the door and walking out, a small wave over his shoulder, leaving just Lucy, Natsu and Happy.

"I could tell Erza." Happy offered but Natsu shook his head.

"No. I'll do it, during tomorrow's mission, I'll tell her and accept whatever she dishes out, I am a man after all."

She wanted to laugh at his expression, he looked like a man heading to war and she couldn't help but feel that he was seriously over-reacting. Lucy was ninety-nine percent sure that Erza would also support them but then there was that one percent of worry that Erza would be the one to scold her for their stupidity.

Eventually someone would look down on her and judge, right?


	11. Erza

**So... i think it's been a little over a month since I last posted a chapter, I'm was in my last month of pregnancy and it's hard to find the motivation when you feel like a bloated whale all the time, but I've only got a few days left until the greatest creation I'll ever make joins my family, hopefully once he arrives and I feel more like myself I'll get back to writing more cause I have soooo much inspiration for this story. **

**I had this written up a while ago but I was really struggling with it and only just managed to finish it though honestly I think it turned out a bit naff since I mainly wanted to concentrate on Lucy and her pregnancy but their last teammate had to know, it would seem fair to leave Erza out of the loop. **

**Sorry for the wait and enjoy ^^**

Natsu grumbled profanities to himself as he stalked away from his team mates, Happy flew beside him, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air between them.

After a torturous two hour train journey from Magnolia, and no Lucy to sooth his sickness, Natsu was on edge. He'd promised Lucy that today he would definitely tell Erza about the baby but everything was going wrong and now they all stood divided.

Erza refused to admit that they were lost despite asking for directions from a train attendant at the isolated train station of this backwater town near the coast, he couldn't even remember the name of it but after forty-five minutes of wandering around in circles he couldn't wait to leave.

Gray wasn't much help either, already reduced to his pants, the ice make mage wouldn't leave Natsu alone about telling Erza, constantly throwing comments here and there that would make a normal person suspicious, Natsu was quite fortunate that Erza was actually quite an oblivious person. But that didn't alter the fact that Gray was really starting to piss him off and though he really wanted to punch his lights out he really didn't need Erza being mad at him before he'd even told her about Lucy.

So he stomped off ahead to cool his head and mentally prepare himself but cursed when he turned the corner and came across the exact same building they'd passed ten minutes ago.

What the heck was wrong with this town, he had made sure to take paths he didn't recognise and had even resorted to using his nose for direction, even though the air was saturated with sea salt. And yet, despite, his efforts they were back to square one.

"Oi this is getting stupid." Natsu huffed, taking a seat on a nearby crate. They'd even sent Happy up into the air to guide them out from up there but his directions had led them back round to this place. Something was seriously wrong with this town... and where the heck were all the people?

Erza and Gray caught up to Natsu, Gray's reaction to seeing the same building they'd seen several times already was the same as Natsu's while Erza just stared at the building with interest. She took a few steps towards the building and stopped, she folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

"I just don't understand, clearly there's something wrong with this town but I can't figure out what." She sighed.

"No matter what path we take we always end up here, it doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it." Gray leant against a nearby building, giving Erza plenty of space.

Natsu went back to sniffing the air, the sea salt smell was over powering but it shouldn't block out all other scents so he focused hard on finding something, anything.

He missed not having Lucy here, despite having his other teammates and Happy here it was oddly quiet without Lucy's normal chatter. Was this what it was going to be like from now on? Tense atmosphere and awkward silences?

It was her scent he missed most though, and now that it was mingled with the scent of their child he just felt agitated not having her nearby where he knew she'd be safe. She was in Magnolia with the rest of guild, of course she was safe but still since this was his first time expecting a child with someone, he wanted to be there for her, to make sure she didn't so much as get a scratch.

But rent... wouldn't be such a problem if she would just agree to move in with him already.

It was too late for 'too soon', they were already having a baby together so maybe she'd be more agreeable to the idea, though now that he thought about it was his place suitable for a baby? He could maybe do it up a little, clean up and baby proof... maybe. He had no idea but he knew babies were delicate and easily breakable, so it would definitely have to be safe for them.

He'd work on the house then he'd approach Lucy again about the topic, there were only so many times she could say no and he really wanted to live together with her and their child and Happy.

He broke out of his thoughts when his nose twitch at a faint scent of Magic, he wasn't sure what kind but there was definitely something in the air that had alluded him until now. It could be that it was purposefully hidden from him or because it was old and fading but now that he was concentrating he could pick it up between the heavy notes of sea water.

"Erza!" He called, he jumped off the crate and, Gray, curious, did the same from his spot and they both walked over the regroup with Erza. "I got something." Natsu, sniffed again to make sure he still had the scent, yeah it was still there and now that he'd clocked it he wouldn't lose it, the sooner they could be done with this request the sooner they could go home.

"You've scented something?"

"Magic, it's everywhere, I couldn't catch it before because all I could smell was the sea but I've definitely got it now." She nodded, as if already expecting this answer.

"I think it's clear by now there's an enchantment on the town, the only question is why does it keep leading us to this building?"

"Well if someone keeps leading us here then maybe we should try knocking, I'm done with wandering around in circles." Gray nodded his head towards the building, earning words of agreements from both Erza and Natsu.

Wanting to get this over and done with Natsu stalked up to the building and knocked heavily on the door with a closed fist, he grimaced when he heard the wood creak and stepped back, he couldn't afford to break stuff.

Almost instantly the door swung open and a friendly looking girl with Magenta hair was standing in front of him with a wide smile.

"Welcome to Vaville's best inn, we serve dinner at 8pm and breakfast 9am and our rates our fantastically low due to our popularity right now," She looked over his shoulder and her smile widened, "Pets are welcome too, so will the three of you be wanting a room, I'm afraid you'll have to share since we're so busy right now, I hope that won't be a problem."

"We're not looking for a room..."

"I'll go ahead and book one for you anyway, it's getting late out and you won't want to get caught out late."

"No we really aren't..."

"Dinner will be served soon and because you're new to town breakfast is on the house."

"Will you just listen to..."

"Ma! Pa! We have guests prepare three more dishes!" She yelled into the house completely ignoring the three of them. This was starting to become a pain in his ass. Gritting his teeth to hold back his annoyance he allowed his body to become engulfed in flames.

The girl turned back, a look of confusion on her face before she took in his flames, when she did she reeled back, a gasp of surprise escaping her lips and her face paled. And was it just him or were her eyes shifting guiltily.

"You're mages?!"

"Good I got your attention," He let his fire disappear before stepping through the threshold of the building and closing in on the girl. "We don't want a room, we got questions for you." He growled.

"Natsu, it won't do to terrify the girl." Erza followed in and looked around before settling her eyes on the quivering girl.

"She's hiding something." He pointed out, the girl flinched, proving him right.

"Then we'll ask her, I'm sure she'll be willing to share without your half baked threats." Gray stepped in, when the girl squealed, red crawling up her face before she quickly covered her eyes it was only then that they realised that Gray was as naked as the day he was born. "Shit." He dived back outside to search for his discarded pants only to stumble back in with a slightly irritated blush.

"I don't know whether it's funny or annoying that she found your nakedness scarier than my menacing display." Natsu folded his arms and clicked his tongue in annoyance, completely ignoring Gray's glare.

"You're a dumbass, you know that." Gray growled before coming up next to him and looking down at the girl who had now slid down the wall she'd pressed herself against, her eyes were averted and she was nibbling on her lower lip as little tears sprung forth at the corner of her eyes.

"You starting a fight?" Natsu lit a fist on fire, happy to be given a chance to expel some built up tension.

"Nobody is starting a fight." Both men froze at the sound of their third teammate, Natsu didn't need to look to know she was fuming at them which was possibly the last thing he needed before telling her his news. Acting quickly, Gray apparently thinking on a similar wavelength as him, they turned and draped an arm across each other's shoulders and forced a smile.

"No fight here, it's just a bit of friendly banter, right buddy?" Gray said, his voice cracking half way through.

"Aye." Natsu agreed. Erza watched them a moment longer before slowly nodding her head and turning her attention to the frightened girl.

"Are your parents available there's something we'd like to discuss with them." The young girl nodded her head vigorously, either still frightened by Natsu's forceful behaviour or by the sheer dominance that Erza exuded, he thought probably the latter since she'd just watched him and Gray almost wet their pants just from a look.

"P-Pa!" She called out.

And older guy with greying brown hair and a beard speckled with white popped his head around the corner, he looked friendly enough, harmless but when he saw the three of them standing there and his daughter curled up against the wall his bushy brows dropped down into a heavy frown and he stepped out into the corridor, broom in hand.

Natsu watched in amusement as the older man puffed up his chest, in an attempt to appear more intimidating, brandishing his broom in both hands as if ready to shoo them out. Natsu looked down at the girl who looked at her father in hope and realised maybe he'd been a bit too rash.

He wouldn't want anyone treating his daughter like that, especially if she hadn't really down anything all that wrong - except be a little annoying.

He knelt down in front of the girl and smiled.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you or anything, it's just we've been walking around in circles for ages and I got a little annoyed... my name's Natsu, this is Gray and Erza," He introduced, pointing to the two behind him, "We're mages of Fairy Tail so we're not here to hurt anyone." The girl stopped shaking but she was still looking at him wearily, never taking her green eyes off him. He stood up and took a step back.

"It's as he say," Erza said, this time to the old man who had now lowered his broom. "We were sent a request to help this town but we have little information and no matter where we go we always end up here."

"Fairy Tail mages?" Another face appeared around the corner, a cherub looking woman with kind green eyes that matched the girls and a light magenta hair that was up in a messy up do. "I didn't think anyone would come."

"Ma?"

"Philly?" The daughter and father questioned at the same time both looking equally as perplexed.

"Please, come in, it's rude to keep guests waiting in the hallway, I'll make a fresh patch of brew and I can explain everything." Natsu shrugged after meeting eyes with Gray and Erza, she didn't seem suspicious so he figured they had no other choice but to go with it.

They followed her in, daughter and father trailing behind, and sat around a large table, the lady, Philly, nattered on about the weather and whatnot while Natsu looked around the room with little interest, he wanted to get this all sorted so that he could get back home.

Once the tea was settled and the small talk was over Philly took a deep breath and smiled apologetically at everyone, including her family.

"So I guess you'd all like an explanation, I used the communication Lacrima to get in touch with my sister who lives outside of town and asked that she put a request to a mage guild because Emily," Philly looked over at the young girl who shifted in her seat nervously, she avoided the older woman's gaze and fiddled with one of the table clothes tassels. "I know what you did."

"What did she do?" The father looked confused, his glance shifting between his daughter and his wife.

"Honey... I followed you one time, I was just worried and I saw you talking to the old man, the old mage who runs the trinket shop."

"You did what?" The old man looked over at his daughter who was now looking at her hands. "I thought I told you to stay away from that old coot."

"He said he could help, our inn was doing so badly and I didn't want to see you guys struggling so much so I approached him, I thought he'd give me a trinket or something for luck to help business but he offered something else instead."

"What did he offer?" Erza asked.

"An enchantment, every couple of weeks he refreshes it and I pay him some jewels."

"A barrier enchantment around the town..." Erza sat back and tucked a hand under her chin in thought. "More information on the flyer might have been good, I fear that our particular talents aren't entirely suited for this task, Levy or Freed might have had a better chance but since we're here and we can't leave until the barriers gone we have no choice."

"So what do we do?" Gray asked.

"That old man still in town?" Natsu asked the girl directly.

"Yes... but if he drops the enchantment our business..."

"Emily, using magic for things like this is not good, those people staying at our inn aren't here because they want to be, it's only because they can't leave and I'm sure they want to go home." Philly interjected, scolding her daughter.

"And if the business fails, you've both worked so hard to keep this inn going."

"It won't be the end of the world," The father sighed, he ran a hand over his bushy beard before folding them over his broad chest. "Forcing people to stay here just doesn't seem right after all, we could always sell up while we can and go live out in the country with your sister, Philly, you always seemed so refreshed whenever you get back from a trip up that way." Philly smiled softly at her husband.

"That does sound lovely dear." For a moment, husband and wife looked at each other with endearing looks, forgetting that anyone else was in the room with them. Natsu sat back and gave them their moment, it was nice to see so much affection between a married couple but it did make him miss his blonde all the more.

He never missed it, hated to miss it, but she looked at him like that as well, long lingering looks graced with a lovely smile that never failed to make his heart stutter.

"I hate to break it to you kid but that mage is swindling you." Gray broke the nice atmosphere, everyone turned to look at him, the picture of ease, despite his nudeness. Maybe they should start bringing Juvia on mission with them, Natsu thought offhandedly, at least that way there would be someone to collect his clothes every time he lost them, she was the only one that had the patience to deal with his nasty habit.

"What do you mean, the enchantment works." Emily frowned, confused.

"Unless he's a really weak mage, which if he's able to enchant an entire town I don't think so, then he shouldn't need to 'renew' the barrier, an enchantment lasts as long as the mage wants it to or until a requirement has been fulfilled." Gray had a point, when he had scented the magic earlier it wasn't fresh which meant Gray was right, the old man had been conning Emily.

"So... I've been giving him my allowance for nothing."

"It would seem so."

"But... but that's not fair, I used everything I had, I'd saved it all up..." Emily sniffed as small tears pooled at the corner of her eyes.

"There you go again," Natsu punched Gray's shoulder, "making girls cry."Gray shot him a glare but didn't make any more moves, a quick glance at Erza who was looking at them with a cocked brow told him enough.

"Look," Natsu addressed the girl, "we can't promise to get all your money back but we'll definitely pay the old bas... man a visit, see if we can't... 'negotiate' a refund and a dispel." Emily offered him a watery smile and with a resolute nod of her head she stood.

"I can take you to him now, he lives nearby." The three nodded and followed her suit.

"Oh don't you want to have something to eat first it's about tea time." Philly fussed, following them out to the hallway, her husband close behind.

"Don't worry about that ma we can eat when we get back." Emily waved, Natsu stumbled for a moment, his stomach gurgling at the mention of food, he hadn't eaten since leaving Lucy's that morning and for him that was a long time to go without eating. He sighed wistfully, the sooner they got this done the sooner he could get back.

"Well be careful then!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"She'll be safe with us." Erza stopped, bowed her head to Emily's parents before turning on the spot to follow the girl. It was clear on the older woman's face that she was still worried, but then he supposed it was how mums were and dads... Natsu looked over at the father, his bushy brows drawn together, one arm around his wife, as a comforting gesture, the other gripping onto his broom so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

He was just as worried and Natsu could understand now, his own child wasn't even born yet and the level of protectiveness he felt towards both Lucy and their unborn was overwhelming.

He walked to the door, patting the older man on the shoulder as he passed them by.

"We'll get her back to you safe and sound." Natsu threw over his shoulder before leaving them behind.

It didn't take him long to catch up with others, he noticed Gray looking over at him and when he caught Natsu's eye he jerked his head in the direction of Erza. A heaviness settled on him as he was once again reminded of his other task, childishly, he poked his tongue out at the raven haired bastard and glanced at Erza, swallowing in fear.

This was a little ridiculous, he knew, to fear her so much, most days he liked to challenge her to a fight but he knew what she was really capable of when she thought one of her friends had been wronged and though both him and Lucy had come to terms and accepted their new addition, it still didn't change the fact it had been an unplanned, and in Erza warped sense of justice that was a very wrong thing to do a girl.

"So Erza," Gray started, his tone was casual but Natsu knew better, he stiffened, his hackles rising as he glared over at the two. "I wondered what your opinion was on unplanned pregnancies."

He was going to thrash him, he was going to rip the ice maker to shreds and feed him to the fishes.

"Why are you asking... you haven't got Juvia into any trouble have you?" Erza's gaze narrowed on Gray who quickly back-tracked, his face paling at the accusation.

"God no! Nothing like that just interested in your thoughts, that's all."

"Hmm... It's reckless and irresponsible but I suppose that depends on the circumstances."

"Oh?" Gray prompt.

"Hmm, if the two are in a loving, long term relationship and their responsible about it I don't see the problem, obviously it would be preferable if they were married but I understand that can sometimes be viewed as old fashioned."

Married, shit. Not only had he got Lucy pregnant by accident but they were unmarried and as Lucy liked to remind him they'd only been dating for a little over six months.

He was totally going to get his ass handed to him.

It wasn't like he hadn't thought of marrying Lucy, for him it was natural to assume that's where they would head in the future, he never intended on leaving her and being with Lucy was enough for him but he also knew that girls, Lucy included, one day liked to get married and have a family.

Well he'd given her a family now all he had to do was get her to marry him without her screaming 'too soon' and then persuading her that he wasn't marrying her because of the baby but because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

And truthfully he had been thinking about it before they found out about the baby, only trouble was he couldn't find a ring to give her, he had tried to subtly get her to point out a style she liked when they'd been at the market but she showed little interest in any of them and more interest in the food stalls.

They had had all the time in world so he wasn't going to ask her immediately cause he was pretty sure of what her response would be but it didn't hurt to be ready, but now that she was having their baby maybe... maybe she'd like to be married before baby was due.

"It's an odd question Gray so why are you interested?" Erza asked, the suspicion was clear in her voice and it made him shudder, it was hardly a very subtle question so it was only fair she would be suspicious.

"Oh it's not me that's really interested you see... um... Natsu has something to tell you." Gray's sudden exclamation reached his ears and he froze, his heart leaping up into his throat and his stomach dropping to his toes. That perverted douche! Throwing him in at the deep end like that, he felt a little faint when Erza turned to look at Natsu, her eye narrowed on him and he took a tentative step back, the more distance between them the better.

"Ha... ha, so Erza..." Natsu stuttered and stumbled, the red haired staring him down with those penetrative eyes.

"Go on Natsu, tell Erza." Gray pushed. When this mission was done he was going to kick the crap out of Gray, like seriously kill him.

"Tell me what Natsu?"

"Huh... well you see Lucy... Lucy is, um...she's..."

"Hey guys! We're here." Natsu let out a long sigh of relief when Emily interrupted them, thankful that she was oblivious to the tension between them.

"Very well, Natsu whatever is bothering you tell me after we've got this done." Erza turned her back to Natsu and strode to the door of the run down building and knocked her heavily armoured fist against the creaky wood.

Natsu's legs felt like jelly, he'd never been so terrified in all his life. Gray came up next to him and nudged him.

"Coward."

"Shut the fuck up you traitor, I was gonna tell when this mission was over."

Gray shrugged, unconcerned.

"Isn't it best to get it out of the way?"

"And have her railing on me for the rest of the mission... nope."

They fell silent when the door swung open to reveal an elderly man, he rested against a crooked cane that creaked ominously under his weight.

"Emily I wasn't expecting you for another week..." He trailed off when his eyes scanned over the young girl's entourage. "I see you have brought some friends with you." He laughed nervously, his withering gaze meeting with Erza before glancing away towards Emily.

"Undo the enchantment." Emily demanded. "And give me my money back."

"Not possible." The old man shot back immediately. "You knew from the very beginning what you were getting into when you approached me, so if you would so kindly leave." He went to slam the door shut but Erza shot a hand out and stopped the door in its track.

"I am under the impression that Emily has been tricked and conned, I know enough about enchantments to know they can be undone by the one who cast them, so we ask again, undo the enchantment and give the young girl her allowance back." Natsu and Gray, from experience, recognised the tone in her voice and knew that disobeying her now was not an option but the old man had no idea and sneered at Erza.

"I am under no obligation to do as you say, missy."

"Big..." Natsu muttered.

"...mistake." Gray finished, they each took a step back, Natsu quickly stepped forward to pull Emily back with them to a safe distance. If he let Erza take this then maybe she'd blow off some steam before he had to tell her about Lucy.

"My companions and I have been circling this ghost town for several hours, I'm not in a good mood and I simply cannot abide anyone using magic to trick and take advantage of a young girl who only had good intentions. YOU will undo this enchantment and YOU will give her all her money back, if you do not I shall punish you." The air around Erza seemed to thicken and for good measure Natsu, Gray and Emily, who this time didn't need coaxing, stepped back a little more. The old mage swallowed thickly, his brows shooting up before he bravely solidified his stance.

"I don't care who you are but you have no right to tell me what to do, my policy states no refunds and that's f-final..." As the old man spoke, Erza summoned her sword to her side and a collection of her favourites to float menacingly over her shoulder, all pointing towards the old man. "Mages!" He exclaimed. "I was supposed to be the only mage in town."

Suddenly he didn't sound like an old man anymore and the image of an aged old man flickered like a mirage over a younger visage.

"We are members of Fairy Tail and we will complete our job."

"F-fairy Tail... wait... I..."

Erza struck.

She never really did have a lot of patience.

"Maybe you went a little overboard Erza." Gray pointed out as they made their way to the edge of town to board the next train to Magnolia.

"I cannot abide frauds, he was a wanted criminal posing as an old man and conning money from unsuspecting people."

"It was just lucky that the authorities were looking for him and he wasn't just some old man who was trying his luck, though after what you did to him I doubt he'll try it again." Gray laughed. "At least this time it wasn't Natsu destroying something."

Natsu flinched, not wanting to be brought to the red head's attention yet, he had still not told her about Lucy and he was hoping he could wait until he was on home turf where he could run away not about to climb on a train where he'd become an easy target.

After destroying the enchantment and collecting their reward from the innkeepers, who had apologized profusely to their 'guests' who had all just been happy to leave and go home, Natsu had remained uncharacteristically quiet as they made their way home. Erza still hadn't called him out on his earlier attempt to announce his and Lucy's news and he had kind of hoped she had forgotten. But apparently not. She stopped walking and turned to Natsu, Gray walked on before realising they had stopped, he came to a halt and turned to watch the show, an annoying smirk on his lips that irritated Natsu to no end.

"You had something to tell me regarding Lucy." Erza's no nonsense voice rang in every word and he found himself taking a deep breath, physically and mentally preparing himself for the beating he was about to receive.

"Yeah, Lucy... um well I, she..." He sighed, his body sagging in defeat. "Lucy's pregnant." His voice rang clear. "We're having a baby, it was confirmed a couple of days ago but it's why Lucy isn't here and won't be joining us for jobs for a while, it's why she hasn't been feeling well." Natsu refused to look at her, instead gazing down at the floor as he kicked at the dirt. "We haven't told anyone besides Gray, Levy and Happy but since we're in the same team we wanted you to know as well."

"The question about unplanned pregnancies then was because of Lucy and Natsu's situation then?" She directed the observation to Gray.

"Yeah." Gray answered.

"Have you not been warned of the hazards of unprotected ... _s-sex_." Erza stuttered towards the end.

"I'm not an idiot of course I know but we didn't do it without, it's just there was one instance where it broke... but that doesn't matter, we talked about it and we're... happy." Natsu chanced a glance at Erza and balked when he saw the way her bangs covered her eyes, and her body trembled with what Natsu no doubt believed to be rage.

Hopefully she'd let him live to meet his son or daughter.

His heart leapt up into his throat when she charged towards him, he took a few tentative steps back with his hands raised in surrender but she didn't slow and he just about refrained from whimpering like a coward.

An armoured clad hand came up to the back of his head and suddenly his face was smashed against the cold metal of her chest piece, for a moment he felt his brain rattled between his ears before he could comprehend his position.

"As long as you are taking responsibility then I am happy for you both."

...what?

"I shan't demand to be godmother but at I least ask that I be considered for the position and if I find you are neglecting Lucy's needs I shall punish you severely, being a father is a big responsibility but I have faith that you shan't let Lucy down."

He ignored the pounding on the side of his head that was still connected to her breast, the shock of her easy acceptance stumped him and he had no idea how to react.

"O-of course I won't let her down, when have I ever."

"I know." She stepped back, releasing Natsu, who stumbled back in confusion, he was still expecting a punch or something but when she smiled and turned on the spot to head towards the train station he almost collapsed from relief. "Let us hurry back to Magnolia, I have much to discuss with Lucy." Natsu wondered whether he should feel sorry for the blonde, especially when he spotted the gleam of excitement in Erza's eyes and the blush of delight on her cheeks.

He was in shock, feeling he had gotten off extremely lightly, the bruise on the side of face throbbed but it could have been worse, he shuddered, a lot worse.

"Well that was anti-climactic, I honestly thought she'd beat your ass into the ground but I forget how much of a maiden she really is on the inside... you got lucky but if you let Lucy down in any way you're dead meat and it's not only Erza who will punish you, you get what I'm saying." Gray stopped in front of the still gaping Natsu and offered him a glare.

"I know but we both know I'd never do anything to hurt her." Natsu growled, squaring up to Gray defensively.

"We know but it doesn't hurt to remind you of the consequences." The ice make mage grinned and Natsu relaxed, eyeing the red heads back suspiciously.

"Be honest with me did she actually beat the shit out of me and I'm unconscious, dreaming all this up." He rubbed the side of his face absentmindedly.

"Just count your blessing." Was all the ice mage offered before turning to follow Erza.

Today, Natsu realised he was the luckiest son of a bitch around and he wasn't about to take that for granted.


End file.
